Roundhouse Design Guidelines - Victoria

1.0 DEVELOPMENT
VISION
Celebrating the
past and building a
stronger, more vibrant
community for the
future.
Illustrative Development
Concept Plan
The Roundhouse Historic Railway Precinct and its surrounding site is located
in one of the last undeveloped areas of the Songhees Peninsula and represents
a unique opportunity within the City of Victoria. What is distinctive about the
site is the historic landmark formed by E&N Railway buildings, the Turntable,
and the yard surrounding these structures. Nowhere else in Canada is there a
surviving Roundhouse complex left almost in its original form. The opportunity
exists to restore this historic railway precinct through careful conservation and
by allowing sufficient development on the remainder of the site to endow and
sustain the substantial economic cost involved in its retention.
The overall vision for the site is one of mixed-use, catering to the local
community and visitors to Victoria through the complement of uses and
activities selected for the project. These uses will include retail, restaurant, arts
and crafts, railway interpretation, railway maintenance, office, hotel, residential
and recreation. An important feature of the overall development plan for the
site is its connectivity to the surrounding neighbourhood. The pedestrian and
bicycle connections must be maintained through the development as 24-hour,
public use areas.
Detailed guidelines have been developed to sustain and reinforce these overall
objectives for the site.
R O U N D H O U S E D E S I G N G U I D E L I N E S J u l y 2 0 0 8