A Health Care Contribution

Our revised proposal focuses our community amenity contribution on the dedication of space for health care use. This clinic space is proposed to be transferred as an asset to the Delta Hospital and Community Health Foundation. This organization has been the focal point for supporting health care in our community and will ensure the space is allocated to the best possible health care delivery use.

While we heard many positive comments about the original proposal’s inclusion of a new library, we heard more people say that a community amenity contribution should focus on health care and that is what has driven this decision to provide clinic space the community can call its own.

The health care space is a practical response but will also add greatly to the sense of place to have it centrally located in a walkable urban centre

Housing Our Future

“Housing Our Future” was the theme of Delta’s Official Community Plan that was updated in 2024. Our revised application delivers on the promise of new and more diverse housing in a community that is now mostly comprised of large and expensive single-family homes.

Our plan will see the construction of a mix of rental and strata homes including studio suites all the way to 3-bedroom suites.  

Importantly, the housing will include modern amenities such as community kitchens for large gatherings, pet care, fitness rooms, and bike maintenance facilities.

Bringing World-Class Architecture to Tsawwassen

The focus of many conversations during the consultation phase was how the ‘look and feel’ of the redevelopment of Tsawwassen Town Centre will add to and improve the sense of identity within Tsawwassen. This is something that Century Group and its architectural team have worked on very carefully.

Century Group has always preferred Scandinavian architecture and this was successfully introduced into our award-winning Southlands Tsawwassen project at a village scale. Our challenge was to find examples of how Scandinavian themes could be successfully introduced at an urban scale, and Copenhagen was selected as a case study. 

Our Project Master Planner, Gary Andrishak (Arcadis Architecture and Urbanism) has followed the evolution of Copenhagen and its neighbourhoods since attending architectural school there five decades ago. Gary and Sean Hodgins travelled to Copenhagen in spring 2025 to tour examples of the urban forms that display positive attributes of urban centres on the periphery of Copenhagen’s downtown core. In particular, the neighbourhoods of Paper Island and Carlsberg Byen provided the best examples that inspired our design evolution with a mix of high-rise and low-rise expressions.

Some of the design principles observed in Copenhagen included:

• Design simplicity that favours basic building forms that are timeless in character;
• Quality of materials, relying more on brick, ceramic tile and high-quality metal work rather than large expanses of glass facades;
• High integration of mixed retail uses at the ground level with quality landscape architectural elements in adjacent public spaces.

Aiming to create a cohesive design that enhances the pedestrian experience, we observed in Copenhagen a strong integration of mixed-retail uses at the ground level, complemented by high-quality landscaping in public spaces that anchors placemaking and establishes a distinct sense of place. A series of small plazas will offer flexible spaces to linger, socialize, or move between areas for a change of scenery.

Vibrant Retail Spaces

As noted, our plan begins the process to add new retail space to Tsawwassen Town Centre. This focuses initially on a retail High Street and is anchored by a new Thrifty Foods store expanded in size by approximately 20% with a pharmacy component to complement the health care space outlined previously. We continue to work collaboratively with Thrifty Foods on the final details, subject to Council approval of this rezoning application.

In addition to the new and expanded 35,000 sq.ft. Thrifty Foods, approximately 17,000 sq.ft. of new commercial space will begin the process of revitalizing the retail experience in the Town Centre. The employment and economic activity created by new shops and services will be an important element of maintaining a local economy, which was another factor raised during the public consultation process.