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Commitment to Environmental Design & Construction
While carrying the primary responsibility for meeting the community's ever-expanding residential needs, British Properties is also first to recognize and respond to the fact that a major apart of West Vancouver's appeal is its natural surrounding of mountains, forests, rivers, and creeks.
British Properties recognizes that residents wish to have unobstructed views of the ocean and Vancouver cityscape. However, every effort is made to protect natural features and to provide protection and enhancement to fish and wildlife habitat.
Creek Protection
The protection of creeks for both recreational uses and as fish and wildlife habitat is a key element of the development planning process for British Properties. Street and bridge crossings are carefully designed and special measures are taken to protect fish habitat during construction. The Company has also initiated the design of creek setback areas responding to the natural contours of the land. In many cases this has meant providing more extensive setbacks than required by zoning bylaws.
Wildlife Protection
British Properties works closely with environmental consultants, university scientists, and government agencies in providing wildlife corridors fro deer and smaller animals, and forested buffer zones protecting creeks populated by trout and coho salmon. The public trail systems built by the Company are carefully located to minimize disturbance to fishways, bird habitat, and wildlife.
Rehabilitation Project
Under the policy of 'no net loss' of habitat, British
Properties provides replacement habitat where construction
disruption is unavoidable, In 1998, the Company
financed and rehabilitated 130 feet of Hadden Creek
which had been cemented over by a neighbouring property
owner. A Fishway was also installed through a 350-foot
culvert which carries the creek under the highway.
Butthroat trout began utilizing the new fishway
immediately, and coho salmon are returning to the
upper reaches of the creek for the first time since
the highway was constructed in the 1950s. This project
resulted in the West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce
awarding British Properties with the Business of
the Year Award for Environmental Responsibility
in 2003. Click
here to learn more.
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