landscape architecture Archives

LEES Principal featured in Landscapes | Paysages

“Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” – the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects celebrates 90 years

Principal Heidi Redman was interviewed as part of a multi-generational panel reflecting on the profession of landscape architecture for the 90^th anniversary of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects.

At our next milestone, I hope we can look back and see leaders in our profession staying ahead of their time. I hope that we can reflect kindness, generosity and respect – that we can stay eager to share our passions with others, celebrate collaboration and mentorships, and that these mentorships can turn into friendships over time. I hope that we can all find ways to follow our passions and not back down from the values we believe in and that guide us.

Read the full article “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” in the online edition of Landscapes | Paysages

LEES Landscape Designer wins CSLA student award

LEES’ Caleb Spyksma, MArch, MLA was awarded a Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) 2026 Student Award of Excellence for his UBC studio project “Young, old, and feathered.” Congratulations Caleb!

This project is a celebration of the stories and landscapes that draw us into care for the world around us, and even into the profession of landscape architecture itself.

Learn more here: https://www.csla-aapc.ca/awards/student-awards

Alberta Cemeteries Embrace the Needs of Both Living and Dead

Fairview Cemetery, Lacombe, AB

Our founding principal, Erik Lees, was featured in a recent CBC article on how Alberta cemeteries are adapting to serve both the living and the deceased.

In the article, Erik emphasized the evolving role of cemeteries in urban life:

“They are places of passive recreation and contemplation, which in our increasingly densified and urbanized environment is really an important aspect of cemeteries.”

He also noted how changing practices are shaping cemetery planning:

“Cremated remains, even when they are interred in the cemetery, consume a fraction of the space that a traditional casket burial will consume.”

These remarks highlight the importance of creating multi-purpose and respectful spaces. Places where people can both honour memories and find comfort in nature. We’re honoured that Erik’s perspective was part of this meaningful conversation.

You can read the full article here: How Alberta cemeteries are adapting to serve both the living and the dead (CBC)

Summer News from LEES+Associates

We’re proud to share a few recent updates that reflect our values and growing presence across Canada.

Mentorship Moment in Landscape|Paysages Magazine

Heidi Redman, LEES Principal and practice lead for our Northern Office, recently contributed a “mentorship moment” to Landscapes/Paysages Magazine (LP), honouring the mentorship she received from Catriona Hearn, who was a Senior Associate at LEES when Heidi first joined the firm. Read Heidi’s feature here (page 47)

LEES+Associates is a Living Wage Employer

LEES is proud to be a certified Living Wage Employer. According to Living Wage BC, a living wage is the hourly amount that someone needs to earn to cover basic expenses, from housing and food, to transportation and childcare. While the minimum wage is legislated by the provincial government, the living wage standard allows employers to do better.

Becoming Living Wage Certified reflects LEES’ desire to support our staff’s health, well-being, and quality of life. Fair compensation helps our team thrive. Ensuring fair pay reflects our vision to build a sustainable company that has a meaningful impact on people, the land, and communities.

We are proud of our work in Canada’s northern regions

While LEES has had an office in Whitehorse since 2016, we have recently expanded our Yukon presence, with a larger team, a dedicated webpage specifically for the Yukon office, and a new workspace in downtown Whitehorse, at 1114 Front Street!
Learn more about our Yukon office

We’re excited about these milestones and grateful for the communities we serve.

Port Moody’s Vision for Greener, More Connected Parks

Port Moody is looking ahead to 2050 with an ambitious Parkland Strategy endorsed by Council this June. With population growth, climate change, and evolving recreational needs on the horizon, the city is taking a proactive approach to how it plans, expands, and connects its green spaces.
At the heart of the strategy are three goals: expand parkland, improve what already exists, and connect parks to neighbourhoods and people. Indigenous partnerships, sustainability, and public input have all helped shape the plan, making it a roadmap for future parks and a reflection of community values.

Curious how it’ll all come together? You can read the full story and explore the full parkland strategy here.

LEES and the Healthy Built Environment Toolkit

The design of our neighbourhoods, housing, transportation systems, parks, natural environments, and food systems affects the health of our communities. For over a decade, LEES+Associates has worked with the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) on a number of projects around Healthy Built Environments, including the HBE Toolkit that provides an overview of plans, policies, and research relating to health and the built environment.

Last year, we helped kick off an update to this toolkit to incorporate how climate change impacts such as flooding, drought, wildfires and smoke, and extreme heat and cold affect communities. We researched policies and evidence from different levels of government and NGOs to help PHSA frame key research questions and methods. LEES’ expertise in planning and policy, as evidenced by their work on the HBE toolkit, is one of the things that makes us unique.

What is the Healthy Built Environment Toolkit?
LEES worked with the PHSA on the Healthy Built Environment Linkages Toolkit that remains a go-to resource for understanding the connections between human health and the way we build our communities. The original toolkit focused on the five physical features of the built environment: neighbourhood design, transportation networks, natural environments, housing, and food systems. The Toolkit was developed together with over 50 stakeholders from health, planning, and policy to show evidence-based health research in a visually accessible way for a broad, interdisciplinary audience. The toolkit aims to provide health evidence to public health practitioners, planners, design professionals, and others involved in community design.

Since the original toolkit, there is an increasing body of evidence showing that the way we design our communities impacts health, and climate change is further exacerbating poor design. Improving our urban ecosystems, enhancing tree canopy in urban areas, creating active transportation connections, and ensuring people have access to green spaces are all critical to building resilience for climate change, as it brings more extreme heat and cold, as well as wildfire smoke.

The Toolkit provides easy-to-read graphics to quickly assess evidence-based information to aid in decision-making. For example, preserving and connecting environmentally sensitive areas impacts tree canopy and biodiversity, which can then lead to lower costs for air pollution removal and storm management while providing energy savings to homeowners and renters. There is also emerging research that shows that preservation of biodiversity likely supports healthier human communities.

If you are interested in learning more and keeping up with BC Provincial Health Authority’s work on the Healthy Built Environment, you can visit the HBE webpage for more resources or apply to join the Healthy Built Environment Alliance for regular updates and emerging research.

Shoreline Restoration Design for Whey-Ah-Wichen/Cates Park

As part of a consultant team led by Hatfield Consultants, LEES+Associates supported the Shoreline Restoration Design for Whey-ah-Wichen/Cates Park on behalf of the District of North Vancouver. Our role focused on the human use and interface aspects of the site and included a desktop review, site assessment and report, climate change analysis, and stakeholder feedback analysis to inform the restoration design and support permit applications.

Learn more about the project – Reviving the Shores: A Transformative Shoreline Restoration Project at Whey-ah-Wichen.

City of Regina Parks Master Plan

The City of Regina commissioned LEES+Associates to develop a Parks Master Plan for the city. This plan focuses on park policies and provides a clear path to sustain, improve, and develop Regina’s parks in the future. Through community engagement activities, we helped articulate Regina’s goal to create sustainable and inclusive year-round parks, offer enriching experiences, and connect communities through nature and culture to improve the quality of life of residents and visitors.

We created the Parks Master Plan by facilitating extensive community engagement to help Regina understand how the broader community wants to use their park spaces. We conducted 15 online interviews and workshops with community groups, two online surveys, and incorporated a separate Indigenous Engagement project done by Wicehtowak Limnos Consulting Services.

The City of Regina prioritized Indigenous worldviews into their Parks Master Plan, as part of a larger strategy of moving more meaningfully towards reconciliation. Sessions were held with the Touchwood Agency Tribal Council, File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council, and the Metis Nation Saskatchewan, where there were a mix of political figures, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and invited delegates. Overall, the First Nations groups recommended incorporating signs, educational plaques, and other displays to teach Regina citizens more about Indigenous use of the land, Treaties, and the histories of the First Nations of the area as well as increased naturalization and making the parks more accessible.

First Nations representatives emphasized how naturalizing some of the urban colonial public spaces could transform them into sites of greater inclusivity, and that sentiment was also echoed by broader community feedback. In response, Regina aims to naturalize 25% of its park spaces by 2028 to achieve benefits including support for biodiversity, climate resilience, reducing potable water use, and creating a sense of place for all visitors to the parks. Part of the naturalization will also include reintroducing Indigenous plants and medicines into the park landscapes, such as sage, sweetgrass, choke cherries, and other medicinal plants. Naturalized spaces will also offer trails, outdoor education, and nature appreciation to connect us to the wonder of the world around us.

Making parks more four-season friendly is also an important part of making the parks more accessible to all Regina’s citizens. Recommendations for making the parks more appealing in the winter included more events to bring people into the parks, increased lighting, improving snow clearing for pedestrians and cyclists, and planting vegetation that can protect against prevailing northwest winter winds. These steps will bring people into the parks, make them feel safer, and also encourage more casual winter activities like skating, cross-country skiing, and tobogganing.

In May 2024, the Regina Executive Committee voted 6-0 in favour of endorsing the city’s first Parks Master Plan.

Looking Forward: Kwanlin Dün First Nation Community and Education HUB in Whitehorse, Yukon

LEES+Associates has been working with Reimagine Architects and the Kwanlin Dün First Nation (KDFN) since 2018 on redeveloping and expanding the landscapes and spaces around their civic buildings in Whitehorse, Yukon. The KDFN consists of peoples of Southern Tutchone, Tagish, Tlingit, and other diverse backgrounds who live in the lands that define their traditional territories along the headwaters of the Chu Níikwän (known today as the Yukon River). Their name comes from what their ancestors called the area, “Kwanlin,” which means “running water through canyon” in the Southern Tutchone. The Kwanlin Dün have lived, hunted, fished, and traded in the region for millennia; they have discovered stone tools in the region dating back approximately 5000 years.  The design of their new civic buildings aims to reflect the KDFN vision of their traditional lands by preserving as much of the surrounding forest as possible as well as by incorporating water elements and natural materials.

The recently completed KDFN Kashgêk’ Building includes the nation’s chief and council offices, supportive services, and office administration for the nation. The Education HUB, currently in the detailed design phase, sits across the street and will feature an immersion play area and cultural learning outdoor classroom along with a natural play area for the KDFN’s Dusk’a Play children’s program.

The Education HUB Building blends a traditional plaza with a more park-like design approach that serves as a multi-functional gathering and events space. Blending the Yukon River into the site of the building, the dry riverbed runs from the Kashgêk’ Building and along the front of the Education HUB building. This riverbed will be fed with snowmelt and rainwater, culminating into a basin within the central courtyard and visible from the windows of the HUB’s healing room.

The Education HUB will sit across the street from the Community HUB. A circular building that starts with a single story and slowly builds to a second floor symbolizes the growing enlightenment and education that the building will enable.

The site reflects how Indigenous communities have traditionally used the land. Buffered by forest, the Education HUB highlights the larger river theme continuing from the Kashgêk’ Building across the street. Featuring a central courtyard, this Education HUB’s outdoor space will use natural materials, such as boulders, logs, and embankments, to create seating and a stage for ceremonial gatherings.   Around the outside of the building, organized by a perimeter path, there will be two play areas featuring natural elements. A cultural teaching area will provide space for traditional activities such as hide tanning, drying fish, and canoe carving.

The landscape design for these two interconnected sites aims to create a place that reflects and celebrates KDFN culture and values, responds to the needs of families, children, visitors, and staff, and is rooted in the values of language, culture, and lifelong learning.

Kwanlin Dün Community Hub Landscape Design – Project page

Introducing our Ontario Practice Lead

We are thrilled to introduce Amanda Gebhardt as our new practice lead for Ontario and Eastern Canada. Amanda joined us in April 2023 and has swiftly shown her passion for collaboration and realizing diverse and impactful projects. Her project portfolio includes cemetery expansion development, commemorative spaces, active transportation, complete streets, trails, urban parks, and environmental habitat restoration.

Amanda will be focused on the organic growth of the Ontario office in Guelph, continuing with LEES+Associates’ strong commitment to cemetery planning and design while building on the firm’s western park and recreation practice in Ontario.

With 18 years of experience in parks, trails, and cemetery design and management, Amanda brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our team, allowing us to provide excellent service to clients and projects across Canada. We encourage you to connect with Amanda and look forward to the fantastic work she will accomplish with our team.

Joining Amanda as part of the expanding Ontario team is Kelsey Walker, a senior landscape designer with 12 years of experience across Canada. Kelsey’s experience includes planning and design assignments for parks, trails, open space, streetscapes, industrial and recreation projects in a variety of contexts, as well as a decade of experience in event and festival design and execution.

Kelsey is keen to explore the world of cemetery and memorial design and looks forward to assisting Amanda in growing the LEES+Associates presence in Ontario.