The Town of Gibsons is hosting an Infill Housing Design Competition (IHDC). Infill Housing is development that occurs within already built-up areas with existing services. Infill housing contributes to affordable, inclusive, and complete neighbourhoods through development of vacant lots or the subdivision of large lots. The IHDC aims to inspire thoughtful and innovative design while streamlining the development approvals process.
Residents of British Columbia are invited to participate.
Submissions should embody:
- Affordability and cost-effectiveness – balancing affordable materials with sustainable design
- Flexibility and creativity – varying aesthetics that suit a range of neighbourhoods and settings
- Inclusivity and livability – ensuring socially connected housing that is accessible for all ages and abilities
- Good neighbourhood design – integrating attractive infill housing into existing neighbourhoods
Why infill housing?
The Town of Gibsons will experience a lot of growth over the next 10 years. According to the Town of Gibsons’ 2024 Housing Needs Report, a projected 364 homes are needed by 2034 across a range of tenures, affordability scales, and sizes, to meet the current housing needs and projected growth.
Infill housing types, such as multiplexes, row houses, and accessory dwelling units, can help meet this need by increasing the Town’s housing supply, affordability, and diversity. The benefit of infill housing is that it enables already developed land, underutilized land, or vacant land to increase the supply of rental and/or owned housing.
The IHDC builds on the Town of Gibsons’ existing garden suite program.
Competition details
Categories
There are two (2) design categories:
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- Small lot (3-4 units)
- Long lot (5-6 units)
Who can enter?
- The competition is open to anyone in British Columbia with an understanding of the Town of Gibsons’ housing context, including designers, builders, architects, or interested members of the public.
- Participants do not need to be registered professionals.
- Designs may be submitted by individuals or teams.
- Participants may submit multiple designs per category.
How do you enter?
- Design parameters and submission requirements can be found in the IHDC Design Brief
- Designs must be submitted by March 10, 2025.
- Designs must be submitted in PDF format to Jack Desante, Urban Systems, via email to jdesante@urbansystems.ca.
Submissions will be reviewed and evaluated in Spring 2025 by a talented panel of experts:
Peter Atkinson – Human Studio
Peter is the co-founder and principal of Human Studio, a Vancouver-based architecture and urban design firm focused on creating social and environmental resilience. The firm strives to rethink conventional architectural design and the delivery process. Human Studio believes that there is a strong link between sociability in architecture and long-term sustainability.
Lucas Berube – Bosa Properties
Lucas is a Senior Development Director at Bosa Properties. He specialises in building master-planned communities that strive to provide residents with the opportunity to build strong community ties through unique amenities, curated commercial spaces, and inclusive public realms. He was also recently a member of the District of Squamish’s Advisory Design Panel, which judged the District’s infill housing design competition.
Julian Burtnick – Caerus Construction
Since 1992, Caerus Construction limited, based on the Sunshine Coast, has been providing quality new home construction for more than 500 families.
David Longman – Longman Developments
David has leveraged his personal commitment to value and excellence to build a successful construction company that specializes in building not only single-family homes, but also multi-unit residential developments and commercial structures.
Luke Mari – Aryze Developments
For the last 15 years, Luke has been skillfully navigating the intricate maze of city planning, staying true to his mission to demystify and disrupt the development industry. As the Principal of Development at Aryze, he lands complex site acquisitions, unlocks creative financing solutions and decodes the art of approvals. Previously serving as a Director of Planning and Approving Officer with a leading local government in the Greater Victoria region, he knows his way around a zoning bylaw or two. Passionate about data and diverse housing, Luke is all about making neighbourhoods more interesting—one creative infill at a time.
Katie Thomas – Town of Gibsons
A member of the Town of Gibsons’ planning team has been included to ensure the Town’s experience with infill housing and broader planning objectives are represented on the panel. The staff planner will contribute to the review of submissions but will not be a voting member of the panel.
Winners will be announced in Spring 2025
First, second, and third-place winners for each category will be selected by members of the Review Panel.
- First-place winners for each category will receive $2,500
- Second-place winners for each category will receive $1,250
- Third-place winners for each category will receive $500
- People’s Choice Award will receive $500
Winning designs and designers will be featured by the Town of Gibsons. This may include media releases and website postings. The original designer will retain ownership rights of all designs to sell traditionally.
Winning designs will also be marketed as pre-reviewed infill housing designs, streamlining the approvals process. Development applicants using these pre-reviewed designs will receive an expedited building permit timeline and (in certain circumstances) will be eligible for reduced fees.
The IHDC is being funded by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporations’ (CMHC) Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF). The HAF is a federal grant program, intended to encourage local initiatives to build more homes, faster.
Links
Infill Housing Design Competition Design Brief
