Olympic And Paralympic Village

Olympic and Paralympic Village Vancouver

The Olympic and Paralympic Village Vancouver is located on the southeast side of False Creek in Vancouver. Village guests will enjoy extraordinary views of the Vancouver skyline and the North Shore Mountains. The Village features newly built, sustainable housing that will be a model LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) neighbourhood post-Games. Housing for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be in townhomes and apartments. To meet the needs of the smaller population during the Paralympic Games, the Vancouver Village will be condensed to provide a lively and intimate atmosphere for the ice sledge hockey players and wheelchair curlers.

This prime location adjacent to downtown will enable athletes to easily walk or bus to Vancouver’s shopping and entertainment districts or take in the nightly Victory Ceremonies and cultural celebrations just moments away at BC Place.

The Village is presently under construction and will be completed on November 1, 2009 when the venue will be turned over to VANOC for exclusive use through to the end of the Paralympic Games.

Community Legacies

After the Games, the Olympic and Paralympic Village Vancouver will be the first phase of a model sustainable community known as Southeast False Creek. It will house approximately 3,000 residents in 1,100 units, including 250 affordable housing units and 100 rental units. It will become a complete community with shopping and services available in commercial spaces surrounding the community plaza. Other amenities will include parks, a community centre with a non-motorized boating facility, and a restored heritage building.

Sustainability

This project will transform a former industrial brownfield area into a showcase of sustainable living. It will certify under the new LEED for Neighbourhood Development pilot to LEED Gold standard. Each building site will also certify to LEED Gold standard for new construction, except for the community centre, which will certify to LEED Platinum level — making it one of the highest-rated environmentally designed buildings in Canada. The project is also to be certified under the SAFER homes standard, meaning that all units will be readily adaptable for accessible living.

Sustainability attributes:

• Once complete, green roofs will account for more than 50 per cent of the building footprint and provide locations for urban agriculture.
• Water efficiency programs will minimize reliance on the municipal system by harvesting rainwater for building use, resulting in overall potable water consumption reduction of 40 to 50 per cent.
• Building space heating and hot water will be produced by a city-owned neighbourhood energy utility, which uses sewer heat recovery as the main source of heat.
• Buildings will include car share vehicles and electric vehicle hook ups.
• The design of the Vancouver Village and surrounding landscape won the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Award for Sustainable Transportation in 2006. The award was given for the Village’s Sustainable Transportation Plan based on City Council's transportation hierarchy of pedestrians first, then cyclists, then public transit, and then local/shared automobile use.

Sports served during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games:

• curling
• figure skating
• freestyle skiing
• ice hockey
• short track speed skating
• snowboard
• speed skating

Sports served during the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games:

• ice sledge hockey
• wheelchair curling

Distances to nearby venues and facilities of the Olympic and Paralympic Games:

• Olympic and Paralympic Village Whistler — 117 km
• BC Place (Opening Ceremony for both Games and Closing Ceremony for the Olympic Winter Games) — 1.6 km
• Canada Hockey Place (ice hockey) — 2.4 km
• Vancouver Olympic Centre/Vancouver Paralympic Centre (curling and wheelchair curling) — 3.7 km
• Pacific Coliseum (short track speed skating and figure skating) — 6.2 km
• UBC Thunderbird Arena (ice hockey and ice sledge hockey) — 12 km
• Vancouver International Airport — 13 km
• Richmond Oval (speed skating) — 14 km
• Cypress Mountain Resort (snowboard and freestyle skiing) — 30 km
• Whistler Olympic/Paralympic Celebration Plaza (Closing Ceremony for the Paralympic Winter Games) — 124 km