ABOUT US
Introducing the Ontario East Wood Centre & Eco-Industrial Park
An environmentally sound difference
The Ontario East Wood Centre & Eco-Industrial Park is designed to help manufacturers of value-added wood products employ environmentally and economically sound practices.
Businesses here will be encouraged to develop mutually beneficial processes, products and by-products in a region that offers high-quality wood in sustainably managed forests. Research and government organizations are being invited to play significant supporting roles.
The Wood Science Innovation Centre
The Wood Science Innovation Centre will stand at the heart of the Ontario East Wood Centre & Eco-Industrial Park. Its modules will support research, development and demonstration, orientation to the Ontario East Wood Centre & Eco-Industrial Park, company incubation and the setting up of pilot plants.
Why you should consider locating here
The Ontario East Wood Centre & Eco-Industrial Park aims to attract a wide range of enterprises that value:
- Responsible choices: environmentally sound business practices in a supportive, like-minded business community
- A stable place for business: the widely shared vision will embrace prosperous enterprise
- Land to suit: available light/medium industrial land in lots of varying sizes
- Support: mentoring entrepreneurs and researchers pursuing projects relevant to business
- Operating cost savings: shared support systems, procurement and service costs
- Easy market access: superb road, rail and sea routes to national and international markets
- Plentiful raw materials: more than 1-million cubic metres of wood, with access to certified forests and established local links to wood suppliers and wood product producers in Eastern and Northern Ontario, Western Québec and Northern New York State
- Family-oriented communities: reasonable housing prices, life at a rural pace and short drives to major cities in Ontario and Québec
- Infrastructure in place: from water and wastewater infrastructure to roads, from supportive local companies to friendly local government
- First-rate quality-of-life: from the arts (www.stlawrenceshakespeare.ca) to rural living (www.spencervillefair.com), and from a rich heritage (www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/on/windmill/index_E.asp and www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/on/wellington/index_e.asp) to wide-ranging outdoor water and land-based recreation options
- Remote distribution and marketing: through partnership with the Ontario East Wood Centre & Eco-Industrial Park and the Port of Prescott
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Site Plan
Location
The Ontario East Wood Centre & Eco-Industrial Park will run north from County Road 2 on about 50 acres of land within the 370-acre Edwardsburgh/Cardinal Industrial Park, adjacent to the Port of Prescott.
Planned site environment
The site has been planned with natural processes, wildlife and workers in mind. The central Greenway will provide natural settings and access-ways, as well as walkways for workers. Recreational areas are part of the design.
Common water, waste water and energy plants are planned, as participants join the project. The goal is for each industry module to recycle surplus energy and by-products into another energy system, to help create a more productive park with a smaller carbon footprint.
A planned pond will help manage stormwater, which can then be made available for irrigation and process water use. Water from roofs can be collected and funneled through down-pipe generators, to harvest both the water and energy.
The underlying concept and core research theme is that energy should be conserved and converted. Optimizing energy flows between participants will help reduce environmental impacts and costs, and enhance the site for workers and visitors.
Planned Wood Science Innovation Centre
The plans for the Wood Science Innovation Centre include a:
- Research, Development and Demonstration Facility, to showcase product RD&D
- Orientation Centre, to offer education, training and conference services
- Administration/Support Commons, to provide a wide range of pre-commercialization and incubation services, and to support pilot projects
- Pilot Plant Area, to house facilities where prospects can set up a model manufacturing operation
The buildings of the Wood Science Innovation Centre will be candidates for design that optimizes energy use. Built-in energy and resource harvesting systems may be used to help industry participants match plant configurations with outputs-before they design and build their plants. Energy generated in one system may be re-used in other systems. For example, heat generated in IT systems can be used for domestic water and space heating.
The Wood Science Innovation Centre may also be used to demonstrate some of the benefits of certain building technologies. Structural mass and in-floor radiant energy systems can heat and cool a building. Advanced glazing systems, translucent insulation and exterior shading systems can help control day lighting. Increased thermal resistance and sealing of the envelope can decrease energy use. The LEED standard (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) will be an important guide. The Canada Green Building Council includes a LEED component for Canada (www.cagbc.org).
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Infrastructure
Park infrastructure
The Ontario East Wood Centre & Eco-Industrial Park is served by an infrastructure that has been, or will be, developed:
- Transportation:
- Roadways: These include County Road 2, Highway 401, Highway 416, Highway 16, the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge, Newport Drive and Commerce Drive.
- Railway: The main line of the Canadian National Railway (CNR) runs east-west through the northern portion of the site. A spur line from the main line just west of the site serves the Port of Prescott. A new spur line has been proposed to run just east of the Park
- Seaway: The Port of Prescott, with its railway and roadway arteries, offers access to the St. Lawrence Seaway from just across County Road 2. Its docks and slips are at Seaway draught (8.23 metres/27 feet). The Port is equipped with a large, and growing, grain elevator complex. Significant Port improvements are scheduled for 2008.
- Water supply: A first step at increasing the water supply will involve building a low lift pump station intake from the St. Lawrence River on municipally owned land opposite the site of the Ontario East Wood Centre & Eco-Industrial Park.
- Sanitary sewage: Currently, there is capacity for additional flows in existing and proposed sewage treatment plants.
- Hydro: Current network capacity is sufficient to meet the needs of the Ontario East Wood Centre & Eco-Industrial Park during initial phases of development.
- Natural gas: The existing system has adequate capacity to handle typical industrial development.
- Communications: The existing telecommunications service has the capacity to meet the needs of Ontario East Wood Centre & Eco-Industrial Park enterprises.
- Street lighting: Overhead utility poles at the north end of the Ontario East Wood Centre & Eco-Industrial Park and new higher-level lighting at its south end will serve as the lighting platforms.
Integrated environmental systems
To an appropriate degree, the Ontario East Wood Centre & Eco-Industrial Park will feature integrated environmental systems. The systems address:
- Impervious surfaces, through the use of pervious pavement, gravel pathways, garden dividers and green roofs
- Stormwater, through standard stormwater management techniques (infiltration galleries, soak-away pits, enhanced grass swales, rain gardens and a stormwater pond), and end-of-pipe stormwater management facilities
- Landscaping, through structures, paved areas, drainage, green roofs and softscapes with planted areas that balance the needs of industry participants and people, including workers, while they also provide habitat
- Natural, renewable building construction materials, through the use of heavy timber or recycled materials, cladding systems that include engineered wood products, and modular construction
- Energy and water conservation practices, including the use of energy and water efficient appliances, fixtures and systems, as well as measures such as the use of heat exchangers, and grey water and stormwater recycling systems
- Renewable energy technologies, through an energy grid that taps wind, solar thermal, solar photo-voltaic or geo-thermal energy sources, and uses the waters of the St. Lawrence River for cooling
- Renewable systems, through the use of major building systems and waste recycling practices
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Partners and Supporters of the Ontario East Wood Centre & Eco-Industrial Park
Supporters of the concept
Supporters of the Ontario East Wood Centre & Eco-Industrial Park concept include:
Consultants and implementation team
Consultants involved in the Ontario East Wood Centre & Eco-Industrial Park concept include:
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