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Online Heritage Inventory

Iona Treatment Plant

General Information
Thumbnail photograph of Iona Treatment Plant
Click to see full image
Type of Resource: Building
Common Name: Greater Vancouver Sewage Treatment Plant
Address: 1000 Ferguson Road
Neighbourhood (Planning Area Name): Sea Island
Construction Date: 1963
Current Owner: Provincial Government
Designated: No

Statement of Significance
Description of Site
The Greater Vancouver Sewage Treatment Plant occupies most of Iona Island, and consists of a complex of administrative buildings, sludge lagoons, digesters, wastewater treatment plant and a composting site located at the end of a long driveway. The primary administration and power building is concrete and modern, with horizontal massing and large areas of glazing. The north-eastern edge of the island is dedicated to a regional park and marshland.

 Statement of Values
The Iona Wastewater Treatment Plant has historical significance as it represents the emergence of Richmond’s importance as a member of the Greater Vancouver Regional District. Scientific value is illustrated by the plant in the early awareness of the issues of environmental protection.
Aesthetically, the Treatment Plant is an important heritage resource as a local representation of the industrial architectural style of the 1960s. The administration and power building is a good example of 1960s modernism, and the building exhibits a graceful and powerful built form.

 Character Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of the site include:
· The power and administration building is a very fine example of 1960’s modernism, illustrated by its rectangular box shape, symmetrical horizontal massing, materials such as brick and extensive glazing, and details such as visible steel cross bracing on the exterior.
· Details of the power portion of the building which has an elegant clerestory with peaked windows and natural lighting.
· The unusual triangular design of the roof.
· The presence of the 15 pre-aeration and sedimentation tanks arranged in a grid.
· Its location on Iona Island and access by causeway from Sea Island.
· Its symbolism as part of early environmental awareness of the 1960’s.
· The presence of the regional park nearby.

 History
The Greater Vancouver Sewage Treatment Plant occupies most of Iona Island, and consists of a complex of administrative buildings, sludge lagoons, digesters, wastewater treatment plant and a composting site located at the end of a long driveway. The primary administration and power building is concrete and modern, with horizontal massing and large areas of glazing. The north-eastern edge of the island is dedicated to a regional park and marshland.

 Architectural Significance
Architectural Style
Modern

 Building Type
Industrial

 Name of Architect or Builder
Brown and Caldwell Civil Engineers, San Francisco, California, and Cripper Wright Engineering Ltd, Vancouver, BC.

 Design Features
The power and administration building is a very fine example of 1960’s modernism. The administration portion is faced with brick and has a flat roof. The front entryway is centred and must be reached by a short flight of concrete steps and a partially enclosed porch. Reflective glazing symmetrically flanks either side of the porch, and on each side is a steel cross-brace placed on the exterior and set at an angle. A brick planter runs the width of the front of the building and contains rose bushes.
The power portion of the building is the most striking. Although the bulk of the building is a simple box-shape faced with brick, the upper portion has an elegant clerestory with peaked windows which allow natural lighting into the power room below. It is topped by a roof which has an unusual triangular design that carries through the underside of the roof and offers a most interesting ceiling design inside.
The four digesters and the preaeration and sedimentation tanks are visually imposing structures. The digesters are very large and circular, looking more like fat grain silos than treatment tanks. The preaeration and sedimentation tanks are located in a large, open-air structure. These tanks number 15 in all and are lined up in a grid pattern. Netting is being placed above this structure to keep the birds away.
According to Mr. Richard Taw, Operations Supervisor of the Plant, the overall design of the Plant is based closely on a similar plant in San Francisco.

 Landscape Significance
(No information available)

 Integrity
Alterations
The Plant has undergone six phases over the last forty years. These are:
Phase 1: April 1963. Construction of the plant
(Power and Administration building, Preaeration and Sedimentation Tanks #1 - 5, Digesters #1 & 2, Sludge Thickener, Pump Building and Grit Chambers).
Phase 2: January 1972. Construction of Preaeration and Sedimentation Tanks # 6 - 10.
Phase 3: August 1978. Construction of Digesters # 3 & 4 and Sludge Thickener # 2.
Phase 4: September 1981. Construction of Preaeration and Sedimentation Tanks # 11 - 13.
Phase 5: November 1985. Construction of Preaeration and Sedimentation Tanks # 14 & 15.
Phase 6: September 1986. Construction of new, deep sea outfall and Effluent Pump Station.
All of the above phases mark the addition of buildings and equipment to the Plant and not physical alterations to existing buildings. The Plant is currently undergoing an upgrading of its monitoring and control system. The original 1960’s pump control and overall monitoring boards are being replaced with state of the art computer systems. As well, new engines replaced the original ones in 1998. Also in the power building, an insulating window has been added as a second layer between the control room and the power floor to create both a sound and climate barrier between the two areas. At present, the original roofs of digesters # 1 and 2 are being replaced with new.

 Original Location
Yes

 Condition
Very good condition.

 Lost
No

 Documentation
Evaluated By
Julie MacDonald (Julie MacDonald Heritage Consulting)

 Date
Tuesday, February 15, 2000

 Documentation
MR SE 41 Health 5614, File 5614 ‘Proposed sewer disposal Iona Island’, 1952-57 Richmond Archives.
MR SE 41 Health, File 5227 - 1 Iona Island, 1957-79, 5615, Richmond Archives.
MR SE 93 Legal activities and general topics, 5348, File 61, Pollution control - Iona Island, 1957, Richmond Archives.
‘An Appeal by the Corporation of the Township of Richmond against a decision of the Pollution-Control Board authorizing the Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District to construct a primary sewage treatment plant with by-passes, a trench and dyke across Sturgeon Bank, and to discharge effluent onto the said Sturgeon Bank.’
MR SE 41 Health 5614, File 5614 ‘Proposed sewer disposal Iona Island’, 1952-57 Richmond Archives.
Copy of Order-In-Council No. 2167 Dated September 22, 1958. Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District. MR SE 41 Health 5614, File 5614 ‘Proposed sewer disposal Iona Island’, 1952-57 Richmond Archives.
‘City Sewerage scheme threat to Richmond’, The Province Thurs Oct 4, 1956, p. 10, MR SE 41 Health 5614, File 5614 ‘Proposed sewer disposal Iona Island’, 1952-57 Richmond Archives.
‘Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District Report on Iona Island Beach’ with reference to the letter dated Jul 22, 1959 from The Lower Mainland Park Advisory Committee’ Sept 1959, MR SE 41 Health 5614, File 5614 ‘Proposed sewer disposal Iona Island’, 1952-57 Richmond Archives.
The Vancouver Sun, Wed Sept 24, 1958, p.1, MR SE 41 Health 5614, File 5614 ‘Proposed sewer disposal Iona Island’, 1952-57 Richmond Archives.
Excerpt from the Committee of the Whole Minutes submitted under the date of May 11, 1959, MR SE 41 Health 5614, File 5614 ‘Proposed sewer disposal Iona Island’, 1952-57 Richmond Archives.
Letter to the Reeve and Council of Richmond by Reeve J. Stolberg, dated Aug 7, 1959, MR SE 41 Health 5614, File 5614 ‘Proposed sewer disposal Iona Island’, 1952-57 Richmond Archives.
Letter dated Sep 9, 1959 to Mr. John Strolberg, Reeve of the Township of Rmd from John Drysdale, MP for Burnaby-Richmond, MR SE 41 Health 5614, File 5614 ‘Proposed sewer disposal Iona Island’, 1952-57 Richmond Archives.
Newsletter from Greater Vancouver Water District and Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District, dated Sept 21, 1960, MR SE 93 Legal activities and general topics, 5348, File 61, Pollution control - Iona Island, 1957, Richmond Archives.
Excerpts from the Minutes of the Committee of the Whole Held on Jul 31, 1961. Item 2. Building Permit for the Works on Iona Island. MR SE 41 Health, File 5227 - 1 Iona Island, 1957-79, 5615, Richmond Archives.
Letter date Dec 5, 1969 to the Mayor and Aldermen of Rmd from H. Steves, Chairman of the Health Committee, MR SE 41 Health, File 5227 - 1 Iona Island, 1957-79, 5615, Richmond Archives.
Press Release from the Greater Vancouver Regional District, dated Dec 29, 1971, MR SE 41 Health, File 5227 - 1 Iona Island, 1957-79, 5615, Richmond Archives.

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