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IMPACT ON THEURBAN LANDSCAPEGSP Group is celebrating 20years in the planning biz

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According to the GSP Groups website, their mission involvesplanning, urban design, and landscape architecture. And thats alltrue, of course.

But if you sit with GSP founders Bill Green, Chris Pidgeon andGlenn Scheels, in their large-windowed boardroom that looks outover the heart of Kitchener, it doesnt take long to realize thattheir real mission is to revitalize the most important parts of thecities in Waterloo Region, as well as other urban centres furtherabroad.

Their footprint is everywhere in Waterloo Region and Guelph,especially in the hearts of the cities, the areas that have beentransformed from problem to potential in the past few years.

In Kitcheners hub, alone, GSP has played a key planning role inthe Kaufman Footwear building, the University of Waterloo HealthServices Campus, the 1 Victoria condominium, and KitchenersMulti Modal Transit Hub. Scheels points out that weve worked onall four corners of King and Victoria.

Take those projects away from the heart of Kitchener and whatdo you have left? A field of empty dreams, perhaps but GSPsteam has ensured that the dreams of Kitchener visionaries areanything but empty.

IMPACT ONTHE URBANLANDSCAPE

GSP Group celebrates 20 years bylooking ahead

by Paul Knowles

GSP founders, from left, Chris Pidgeon, Bill Green and Glenn Scheels.

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Founded in green beerGSP Group got its start over green

beer in a pub on St. Patricks Day,1995, according to Chris Pidgeon. He,Green and Scheels knew each other asfellow planning consultants, andsomehow the green suds inspired ashared vision. Glenn Scheelssays, we wanted to create areally great planning consul-tancy that would focus on thisarea, and would grow throughthis area. We knew Waterlooregion was starting to becomean area of growth and activity. Weknew this was a good opportunity.

And so it began. Bill Green says,Glenn and Chris and I were the origi-nal shareholders. The three of us werethe directors, the management com-mittee, up until five years ago whenwe expanded the management com-mittee to include two others.

The ownership model has changedof late. The company that began with

eight team members now includes 33,and 14 of them are shareholders,today. The rather cumbersome originalname was Green, Scheels, PidgeonPlanning Consultants, but clients sim-ply called them GSP, and the ownerswent with the flow, adopting new

branding as GSP Group.Five years after the group was

founded, they moved to their ideallysituated headquarters at 72 VictoriaSuite, in a renovated industrial build-ing. Pidgeon laughs that they looked atthat site first, then considered 50properties, and finally came rightback to 72 Victoria. Considering theamount of work they have carried outin their immediate neighbourhood, it

was a propitious choice.Focus on serviceOriginally, Green held the post as

President, but he is stepping back in arather undefined way he rejects theidea of retirement and Pidgeon nowholds the title.

But its clear that titlesdont matter much in thiscompany that is celebrating20 years of success. Greensays the focus is on service success should follow.Weve served our client base

very well. We have hired and built avery good team, who are all aboutservice. Scheels adds, We put anawful lot of importance on our hiring.We have created a good environmentfor them to work in.

Over the two decades, their man-date has expanded. Scheels says, Westarted out doing primarily land useplanning. We branched into landscapearchitecture and urban design,

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We knew Waterloo region was starting tobecome an area of growth and activity. We knew

this was a good opportunity.

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2015 KPMG LLP, a Canadian limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (KPMG International), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved. 8811

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mcalabreseText BoxGSP Management Committee (from left): Chris Pidgeon, Principal Planner; Bill Green, Principal Planner; Brenda Khes, Hamilton Associate Senior Planner; Chris McBride, Senior Landscape Designer; Eric Saulesleja, Associate Senior Planner; Glenn Scheels, Principal Planner; Kristen Barisdale, Senior Planner; Brandon Flewwelling, Senior Planner; Hugh Handy, Associate Senior Planner; Steve Wever, Senior Planner; Caroline Baker, Senior Planner.

recently acquiring a company that specializes in designingcemeteries Hilton Landmarks Inc., founded by Rob Hilton,who remains with GSP, along with several members of histeam.

The three-pronged skill set gave us the ability to look atthe three-dimensional development of the city, Scheelsadds. The GSP team is required to consider what couldand should happen in the projects in which they areinvolved.

Their influence is not limited to Waterloo Region,although they are involved in a surprisingly number of keyprojects in the region. The company also has a three-per-son office in Hamilton, and they have also consulted onmajor projects in London, Stratford, the Niagara Peninsula in fact, to quote Pidgeon, from Windsor to Fort Erie toBarrie to Own Sound to Richmond Hill but WaterlooRegion is still our base.

Greenfield, brownfieldBut there is no doubt that one area of great importance

to GSP is the neighbourhood in which they live the hub ofKitchener.

Pidgeon notes that we moved here before the decisionwas made by city council to commit significant resourcesto the salvation of the city centre, including a $110 million

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economic development fund. Wevebeen able to watch the transformationof downtown. However, that sounds alot more passive than their actualinvolvement in urban core renewal.

But while they have consulted onmajor revitalization and brownfieldprojects, GSP also works in greenfield

development although the proportionshave shifted from their earliest days,with the majority of work now involvingrevitalization. Sometimes, that involvesworking with historic buildings suchas the Cambridge Mill. In other cases,the buildings are relatively new, but willbe re-purposed such as the formerBlackberry buildings that have been purchased by Michael Wekerle. GSP has thechallenge of transforming a group of office buildings into a multi-purpose com-munity.

Pidgeon says that a key part of their skill set, from the very beginning, was theability to recognize opportunity.

Scheels adds that what sets us apart are the public spaces we have done,citing the new entrance to Victoria Park in Kitchener, and the Uptown Waterloopublic square at the Shops at Waterloo Town Square.

Light Rail TransitThere is no question that the much-discussed ION Light Rail Transit project is

a key to the revitalization of Waterloo and Kitchener. But what impact will theLRT have in the long term?

Green says, The LRT is going to be a very positive thing. Redevelopment inthe downtown core is going to be accelerated. In fact, he says, people are try-ing to assemble sites for redevelopment.

However, Green says that the changes in the wind or on the rails will bedramatic in the core, but limited geographically. The biggest challenge is themarket threshold and land supply, he says. The corridor is only a block deep.He points to the fact that, beyond Park Street to the west, things arent going tochange, and that the city intends to protect those neighbourhoods from change.

So while the LRT will indeed change the city cores, Green believes that impactwill not be felt beyond a block, on either side.

Scheels suggests that one area that will experience huge change will be theSchneiders lands, once home to the recently-closed Schneiders Meats plant.Theres a significant opportunity to have an entirely new neighbourhood there,focused around the LRT development, he says.

Bill Green: The LRT is going to be a very positive thing.

We started out doingprimarily land use planning.We branched into landscape

architecture and urbandesign.

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Chris Pidegon: Weve been able to watch the transformation of downtown.

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for urban planners with a vision, thereis a lot of empty space on the urbancanvas of Waterloo Region.

The three senior planners seechange everywhere. They have beeninvolved in condominium and loftdevelopments, including the ArrowLofts, and they believe the shift tocondos is sustainable the market

crosses demographic categories,including young professionals,boomers, and the newly retired alike.Although Pidgeon makes the pointthat there is still a market for familyhousing, and Green argues that theconflict about greenfield developmenton the urban fringe is not yet settled,with the region wanting to stop devel-opment, and developers arguing thereis a need to build more single familyhomes.

The GSP planners seem to showsome sympathy for some develop-ment; says Pidgeon, we cannotaccommodate projected populationgrowth through re-urbanization, andhe notes that peoples chosenlifestyles and family lives must beconsidered. Not everyone is going tolive downtown, he adds.

But while GSP Group will continueto be involved in greenfield projects,Pidgeon says, we see a lot of brown-field development. The three menpoint to projects in Kitchener, Water-loo and Cambridge, sites they refer toas jewels, catalysts and transfor-mative. In other words, they willmake a fundamental difference to thecommunity making the kind ofimpact the GSP has been having onimportant urban projects for the past20 years.

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New challengesNew projects, new challenges and

new visions are the lifeblood of GSPGroup. Although the three foundersare celebrating their 20th anniversary,they are looking back only briefly their real focus is on the future. They

have new projects, and an entirelynew branch of the company HiltonLandmarks. Pidgeon explains thatacquisition as a completely differentbusiness a completely differentopportunity.

Scheels points to the significant

potential for revitalization in Water-loo, involving the former Blackberryproperties at Phillip and Columbia inWaterloo, which will see a muchgreater variety of uses, than whenthey were built in the 1970s and1980s.

Scheels cites that project dubbedWIN (Waterloo Innovation Network byWekerle and his CEO, former WaterlooMayor Brenda Halloran) as one ofthe really exciting projects nowunderway.

Youll see that whole area trans-form into a more mixed and diverseneighbourhood, he says. Green adds,not just office use, and Pidgeonchimes in: services, restaurants.Clearly, they are genuinely excited bythe plans.

Pidgeon comments on lands nearthe Blackberry buildings, greenfieldsites north of the University of Water-loo that are owned by the universityand slotted for development. Clearly,

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So while the LRT will indeedchange the city cores, Green

believes that impact will not befelt beyond a block, on

either side.Glenn Scheels: Weve worked on all four corners of King and Victoria.

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