GUELPH — The Delhi Street temporary supportive housing project is ready to go to tender.
Paul Sapounzi, managing partner at +VG Architects, gave a presentation on the design for 65 Delhi St. for county council, who then approved the presentation. The building is being turned into temporary supportive housing project for those experiencing homelessness.
It goes out for tender sometime this spring.
Sapounzi noted the importance of 65 Delhi St.
“This is a very important building in Guelph. It is part of the foundational history of health care and community stewardship. And for several years now, it has been very underutilized.
“I think that the acquisition of this property for a transitional housing project is of great benefit,” Sapounzi said.
Coun. Mary Lloyd asked if there will be adequate storage for the residents in the building.
“One of the things we heard last summer is that those who are moving into emergency housing, one of their biggest requests is storage.
“And you did mention that there is a closet in each room but sometimes it’s also inclusive of a bicycle, or something that is a bit larger. Do you feel that this has got enough storage space in it?” Lloyd said.
Sapounzi explained that it is an option to have bicycle storage outside of the building.
“I think you should have bicycle accommodation on the exterior of the building, to meet our green legacy requirements too. Because we should be providing alternative transportation.
“So there are many devices these days that provide safe storage for bicycles. There is actually even open air container units you can get. They’re fenced units that are attractive. And we can have one of those outside,” Sapounzi said.
Coun. Michael Dehn made an inquiry on how sustainable the building is designed to be.
“Is there any integration of solar into this plan?” Dehn said.
The roof of the building is too small to be suitable for solar panels. But the designing process will involve investigating environmentally friendly options.
“We are considering all of those options. We will be investigating, once we get approval to go forward on this project, our mechanical, electrical engineers will be investigating two avenues of alternative energy resources.
“One of them will be some incorporation of solar.
“A better solution for this is for us to do some geotechnical work and determine whether we can get some ground source heating, which is invisible and it is very effective,” Sapounzi said.
The building is to have 28 units for individuals to stay in. But Sapounzi noted the building is to be designed to allow for future expansion.
The estimated cost for the project was between $7.5 million and $8 million.
Luisa Artuso, social services administrator with the county, previously stated that the renovations are to start as soon as possible.
The next step of the project is to go to tender.
Jesse Gault is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
