**4.2 Partnerships and scale of adaptive reuse**

The adaptive reuse of heritage for affordable housing due to its social complexity requires a creative approach, which aims to initiate a plan of action that creates synergies between the typological, technical and strategic approaches with the program requirements that provide the fiscal, financial and planning/regulatory support for social housing. Following an initial phase of investigating the existing building and understanding the project's design philosophy, the decision of whether to preserve, restore and rehabilitate is made [27, 28]. In addition to the synergies of the typological, technical and strategic approaches to heritage reuse, the scale of planning and development, and the formation of partnerships are key determinants to a holistic adaptive reuse approach in Canada (**Figure 1**).

With limited funding, resources and regulatory tools available at the federal level in Canada, "working in collaboration and in partnership is essential to ensure cultural resources at heritage places are safeguarded" ([28], p. 21). Partnerships are critical to incentivise private development, balancing the cultural and social sustainability goals with the profit-oriented motivations of the private sector. Partnerships that integrate the community are an important tool to bridge the gap between limited public financial resources, and the need to revitalise urban areas. These partnerships not only ensure successful project outcomes but create the foundations of knowledge networks to facilitate future small- and large-scale projects. Moving towards a system of 'less policy – more partnerships' can help alleviate risk and create opportunities where the private sector would otherwise choose more economical alternatives [1, 2].

The scale at which adaptive reuse projects occur is not limited to individual buildings but can vary greatly across scales from facades, to buildings, to groups of buildings and heritage districts. A multi-scalar approach to adaptive reuse considers the implications and challenges present at various levels, understands the inherent complexity of adaptive reuse projects and generates robust solutions to address this

Once the workspace for 12,000 workers of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the 50-hectare site was abandoned in 1992, leaving thousands of local residents without jobs. The site's original redevelopment into a shopping mall met with opposition from the local community that demanded the preservation of the industrial heritage and the inclusion of social housing in the redevelopment project. The first phase saw Angus Shops transformed into a mixed-income housing complex of 2587 units with 40% social housing targeted at low to moderate-income seniors and families. Subsequent phases added retail and job opportunities as well as residential units with 20% social housing for local residents. Overall, the regeneration was successful at lowering the unemployment rate of the neighbourhood and infusing a large number of social housing—cooperative, affordable rental and subsidised ownership. However, the neighbourhood regeneration also brought in an influx of new condominiums and businesses that triggered gentrification [29].

## **Box 5.** *Adaptive reuse of heritage for affordable housing, Angus shops redevelopment in Montreal.*

complexity at the building and urban scales. At the same time, the move towards neighbourhood-based regeneration requires the scaling up of approaches usually implemented in individual buildings to generate sustainability outcomes for people and historic places as the example in Montreal indicates (see **Box 5**).
