Prince of Wales to Give Edmonton Prestigious National Award for Heritage Preservation
November 02, 2009
The City of Edmonton has been awarded the Prince of Wales Prize for Municipal Heritage Leadership. Prince Charles, who begins a ten day tour of Canada today, will present the award to Mayor Stephen Mandel and other city representatives later this week in Toronto.
The announcement was made today by the Heritage Canada Foundation (Ottawa), the organization which awards the prize each year.
Edmonton is only the second western Canadian city to receive this award. Victoria was the recipient in 2001. This is the tenth year for the award, given to municipalities demonstrating a strong and sustained commitment to the conservation and preservation of its historic places.
“This is a really exciting moment for our city,” says Mayor Mandel. “We’re extremely honoured to receive this national recognition for our efforts to preserve, protect and understand our past. And to receive the prize personally from His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, makes this very special.”
“The awards jury was most impressed,” says a congratulatory letter to Mayor Mandel, “by the array of bylaws, incentives and programs which the City has developed to protect and enhance its heritage buildings and historic neighbourhoods.”
Mayor Mandel emphasizes that he is proud that the City’s work on heritage issues is being recognized at a national level. “We’re a relatively young city and in recent years, we, as a community, have developed a greater appreciation for the importance of our architectural history,” says Mandel. “Identifying and preserving our built heritage has become a greater priority for the City of Edmonton.”
A year ago City Council adopted a municipal cultural plan (known as The Art of Living) which includes 11 recommendations on heritage preservation. This past spring the City approved the Historic Resource Management Plan. By this end of this year the City will have a new Heritage Council (much like the Edmonton Arts Council) which will act as an advocate on heritage issues.
This is in addition to the already existing Historic Resource Management Program with its inventory of over 600 historic properties of which 84 are designated as Municipal Historic Resources. The city also has one of the most generous financial incentive programs in the country to help owners protect, restore and rehabilitate heritage buildings.
“The City of Edmonton is an innovator in heritage preservation,” says Tim Marriott, Vice-President of the Edmonton & District Historical Society, the organization that nominated the City for this award. “These important innovations will not only serve to protect historic buildings, but also put heritage issues at the centre of Edmonton’s public consciousness.”
Mayor Mandel and the City’s two heritage planners, Robert Geldart and David Holdsworth, will receive the award from the Prince of Wales at a special ceremony on November 4, 2009 in the drawing room of a private residence in Toronto.
For more information:
Office of the Mayor
2nd Floor, City Hall
1 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, AB
T5J 2R7
| Telephone | 780-496-8100 |
|---|---|
| Fax | 780-496-8113 |
