Brownie Awards 2025: Jury reveals finalists from across the country

The Brownie Awards jury has revealed the finalists for the 2025 program! Brownfields are once contaminated, under-utilized, or undeveloped sites, usually in an urban or industrial setting but not always. Unlike their greenfield counterpart, they pose a certain number of challenges to remediate and redevelop. But the benefits of brownfield initiatives are well worth it: improving the environmental health of communities, reducing urban sprawl, boosting local economies, and more.

The annual Brownie Awards provide a forum to recognize and celebrate outstanding brownfield projects, people, and policies that have helped transform sites across Canada. The awards program, which is presented through the partnership of the Canadian Brownfields Network (CBN) and Actual Media Inc. (parent company of Environment Journal), celebrated its 25^th anniversary last year. This year, the finalists have been selected from the highest number of submissions received so far.

“These renewed residential, commercial, industrial, and open space projects contribute to the growth and resilience of healthy cities and communities,” says Christopher De Sousa, chair of the Brownie Awards jury and past president of the CBN. “We look forward to celebrating the amazing achievements of the well-deserving finalists at this year’s Brownie Awards gala, which will shine a bright light on a variety of diverse projects from across the country, from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, and as far north as Nunavut.”

Brownie Awards 2025 Finalists

REPROGRAM: Legislation, Policy and Program Initiatives

• Chinguacousy Beneficial Soil Reuse Site – Caledon, ON
• Removing Environmental Barriers at a Municipal-Wide Scale – Guelph, ON
• Groundwater Plume Stability Guidance Document – Vancouver, BC

REMEDIATE: Technological Innovation

• Transforming Waste to Value: Innovative Thermal Remediation of Oil-Impacted Mill Scale – Contrecoeur, QB
• Deep Chlorinated Solvent Soil Mixing Remediation – Stoney Creek, ON
• PCB Free Product Boundary Control and Encapsulation – Mississauga, ON

REMEDIATE: Sustainable Remediation

• Remediation and Restoration of Chemetron Lagoon for the Port Hope Area Initiative – Port Hope, ON
• Redevelopment of Legacy Mine Site and the Sustainable Management of Impacted Soil and Tailings – Geraldton, ON
• Pétromont: Réhabilitation environnementale d’un ancien terrain d’usine – Varennes, QB

RESTRATEGIZE: Partnership and Community Engagement

• Bedford Heritage Park – Bedford Park, ON
• Coral Harbour Inuit Capacity Building Program for Remediation of a Former Military Site Nunavut – Southampton Island, NU
• Indigenous Climate Resiliency in Watershed Zones to Protect Current and Future Development in the Fraser Valley – Langley, BC
• Picton Base31: Redefining Rural Urbanism on a WWII Airbase – Picton, ON

REBUILD: Project Development at the Building Scale

• Charlie West – Kitchener, ON
• 2 Tecumseth Street Rehabilitation – Former Quality Meat Packers Abattoir – Toronto, ON
• uOttawa, Faculty of Health Sciences – Ottawa, ON
• Leslie Lookout Park – Toronto, ON

RENEW: Project Development at the Neighbourhood Scale

• Britannia Fan Area Redevelopment – Britannia Beach, BC
• Galleria on the Park – Toronto, ON
• Sugar Wharf Condominiums Phase 1 & Phase 2 – Toronto, ON
• Biidaasige Park – Toronto, ON
• Richmond Yards – Halifax, NS

REFOCUS: Vision of Alternative Benefits to Brownfield Remediation

• Wellness Precinct & Portage Warehouse Redevelopment – Fort Frances, ON
• Indigenous Brownfield Redevelopments (Thermal Soil Remediation) – County of Wetaskiwin, AB
• Dow’s Lake Revitalization – Ottawa, ON
• 320 Geneva St. – St. Catherines, ON

The prestigious Brownfielder of the Year award winner will be announced soon. Stay tuned!

Three additional awards will be presented for Best Small-Scale Project, Best Large-Scale Project, and Best Overall Project, selected from all the nominations received.

The awards will be presented in person at the Brownie Awards Gala on November 13th, 2025, at the Delta Hotel by Marriott in Toronto.

For further information about these projects and the Brownie Awards, visit: https://brownieawards.ca/

To register for the Brownie Awards, visit:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/brownie-awards-2025-tickets-1262675800309?

Featured image: Biidaasige Park is a finalist for the RENEW category. The project team converted 20 hectares of an underutilized brownfield in Toronto’s eastern waterfront into the largest park to open in Toronto in a generation. Credit: Waterfront Toronto.