Toronto's Hearn Generating Station; London's Battersea Station
An application has been made to demolish the giant Hearn Generating Station on Toronto's waterfront. The city cannot withold a permit since it is a provincial jurisdiction; however it is also subject to the Ministry of Tourism and Culture's just-issued Standards and Guidelines for Conservation of Heritage Properties,(download PDF Here) which sets up a process that must be followed. I won't get into the obvious options for renewal of the building; Peter Kuitenbrouwer lists those in the National Post here. (I do show a picture of the just-approved grand proposal for the Battersea Power Plant in London)
Staff at the Ministry of Tourism and Culture tell me that they are "watching it closely" but that "there are transition issues." It was suggested that the demolition application was submitted to "concentrate the mind" of the parties involved in finding a solution.
But no matter how you cut it here, it is a Provincially owned building and is subject to their own guidelines, just issued after years of work. There is a process set out in those guidelines and it has not been followed. Yet.
I was interviewed by Matt Galloway of the CBC about this story; you can listen to it here.
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