Montreal Quebec - Red brick facades, metal pillars, huge windows, and high ceilings are the only traces of the past at this former Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) working neighbourhood in Rosemont, Montreal.
 
Between 1902 and 1992, the "Angus Shops" were an important site where the trains and locomotives of CP were repaired and maintained.
 
After their closure, the land became an industrial fallow for around ten years, until it was given a new lease of life.
 
The site was converted into a business and residential area that incorporates all of the latest environmental construction standards.
 
"It was born out of a disaster," explains Christian Yaccarini, President and CEO of the Angus Development Company.
 
"After the massive de-industrialization of the 1980s, which involved the closure of numerous factories, a 20 percent unemployment rate hit the region, and we had a large amount of contaminated land on our hands. We did not want that to continue. We had to find ways to ensure that this site would be sustainably developed."
 
Today the converted space hosts a shopping centre, restaurants, and convenience stores as well as media, IT, and health-related services, all working side by side.
 
Several Montreal businesses have signed on to join the project, while around 60 SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), with around 2,300 people on their roster, are now happily settled into the 13 buildings on the site.
 
The site, which has a surface area of around 580,000 square feet, contains several open green spaces, whilst all of the buildings have been constructed to LEED environmental standards. (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a rating system devised by the United States Green Building Council to evaluate the environmental performance of a building and encourage market transformation towards sustainable design.)
 
Anne Gaignaire.

OKthePK Joint Bar Editor:  Article abridged, some data removed.