FAQs

What is the project status?

The Tunney’s Pasture project is evolving. The Master Plan was approved in 2014. Since then, a detailed analysis has taken place on the plan’s implementation. As well, in 2019, PSPC started collaborating with Canada Lands Company on the redevelopment of the site.

In addition, the City’s Official Plan introduced new policies for consideration, and also needed to be given to federal policy initiatives such as the Greening Government Strategy, the Federal Sustainability Development Strategy, and the portfolio reduction strategy.   

The first phase of the engagement on the implementation of the Master Plan (complete street and active transportation network) was completed in 2024. Canada Lands Company is now working through the Draft Plan of Subdivision process with the City of Ottawa. 

As well, in January 2025 the National Capital Commission’s Board of Directors unanimously approved amendments to the 2014 Master Plan and a request from PSPC to sell land parcels at Tunney’s Pasture to Canada Lands Company. With this approval, a sale transaction between Canada Lands and PSPC can be finalized in 2025. 

Looking ahead, Canada Lands’ priority at Tunney’s Pasture is to enable housing as quickly as possible. To achieve this the Company is moving into the Concept Development phase of the project. Given the important need to create much-needed housing in Ottawa, the first phase of development will be focussed on the parcels that are most easily developed for housing.

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What is the vision for Tunney’s Pasture? 

Over the long term, Tunney’s Pasture will be transformed from a single-use employment centre into a vibrant transit-oriented and sustainable mixed-use community that is integrated with surrounding neighbourhoods, while maintaining a federal presence. It will be built on a foundation of sustainability, accessibility, and modern infrastructure. 

This vision along with guiding principles for the development that were outlined in the award-winning Tunney’s Pasture Master Plan, are still present in the amended Master Plan (2025). 

Why is PSPC collaborating with Canada Lands on this project?

Canada Lands Company is a self-financing federal Crown corporation specializing in real estate development, whose goal is to produce the best possible benefit for Canadian communities and the Government of Canada. The collaboration leverages each organization’s respective strengths to deliver the Master Plan that will benefit Canadians and the Government of Canada. The result will be a vibrant, transit-oriented, mixed-use community with continuing federal uses. 

Now that the amended Master Plan is approved, Canada Lands will take the lead in the transformation of Tunney’s Pasture. 

Have heritage considerations continued to be taken into account?

The vision for Tunney’s Pasture includes recognition of the Indigenous heritage of the site, the Gréber Plan, the built heritage and the significant accomplishments of federal departments that have occupied the site over its history, including Health Canada and Dominion Bureau of Statistics (now Statistics Canada). Canada Lands Company will work with the City of Ottawa to determine an appropriate heritage plan including exploring opportunities for adaptive re-use.

When will this project be completed?

The redevelopment of Tunney’s Pasture is a long-term endeavour. See the project timelines for more information on short-term plans. Canada Lands is committed to enabling housing faster by focusing on the parcels that can be more easily developed for housing. 

What municipal approvals are being sought?

Canada Lands Company is seeking municipal approval for its Plan of Subdivision and in the future Canada Lands and/or future builders will then seek additional municipal planning approvals for any of the development blocks.

What are the major differences between the amended and previous Master Plan?

The amended Master Plan has been informed by feedback provided by public, the City, the NCC, stakeholders, community groups, and the community advisory committee. The Plan still includes the established guiding principles and values. 

Tunney’s Pasture will be a vibrant transit-oriented and sustainable mixed-use community that is integrated with surrounding neighbourhoods. Those principles remain and having a reduced federal footprint provides Canada Lands Company an opportunity to enable more enhancements including additional green space, more housing and affordable housing, increased connectivity through a finer grain urban street network and pedestrian/cycling routes, enhanced community linkages and less office buildings.    

Specifically, here are the major changes:

• Less office space being kept with 7,600 federal employees being proposed, reduced from 22,000 in 2014.
• An increase of over 55,000 square meters of green spaces.
• An increase to 7,000 to 9,000 housing units from 3,400 to 3,700 in 2014.
• The addition of affordable housing with a commitment of at least 20% of units over the course of the project.
• Increased mix of uses to support a complete community.
  
  

Now that the amendments to the 2014 Master Plan have been approved, what is PSPC role in the project?

Since the launch of this collaboration project in 2021, Canada Lands Company and PSPC have been working towards bringing the vision for Tunney’s Pasture to reality. Part of that work included PSPC determining its future at Tunney’s Pasture as part of the government’s portfolio reduction strategy. 

After careful analysis, engagements, studies, PSPC has determined its future footprint at Tunney’s Pasture. The Government will continue to have federal employment although it will be a smaller footprint than previously.

How is transportation and parking envisioned for Tunney’s Pasture?

One of our guiding principles is for Tunney’s Pasture to be a connected and public transit-oriented development, which encourages employees, residents, and visitors to use transit or active transportation for the movements to, from, and around the site. 

A transportation modal split is recommended for Tunney’s Pasture that would result in an 85 per cent focus on trips by walking, cycling, and transit. We will be leveraging the public transit infrastructure including the light rail transit system and shaping our parking strategy to be more flexible around future working patterns to maximize parking utilization and consider the new development’s impact on parking on neighbouring and local streets.

We will be creating complete streets which offer safe cycling and walking paths while ensuring street parking will be available to the public to support retail and community uses. We will ensure that parking is provided in buildings or designed to be screened from the street. Through the implementation of the Master Plan, Canada Lands Company will prepare a comprehensive parking strategy which will includes coordination with remaining federal departments. 

Roads and infrastructure were discussed in the first phase of engagement regarding the implementation of the Master Plan. Following engagement on a proposed complete street and active transportation network, a Draft Plan of Subdivision process is now underway with the City of Ottawa to establish a municipal road network and development blocks.  You can view past As We Heard reports in the Document Library on the home page.

Will the Tunney's Traffic Management Plan include planning for traffic pattern impacts on the broader neighbourhood? 

An updated traffic study is being completed as part of the ongoing Plan of Subdivision process currently underway with the City of Ottawa.

The government announced a public land bank in August 2024, including five properties at Tunney’s Pasture. What does this mean for this redevelopment?

The five Tunney’s Pasture properties included as part of the Canada Public Land Bank were already slated to be part of this mixed-use development and the award-winning Tunney’s Pasture Master Plan. This announcement does not change this and only means that their development may be expedited as builders may express interest sooner in these parcels. The development of these parcels will be undertaken with the same commitment to transparency and public engagement that Canada Lands Company has already initiated with the community and stakeholders.

What can the public do to encourage the development of a multi-use recreation centre, or stand-alone recreation facilities, at Tunney's?

The best recommendation is to ensure that you discuss this with the municipal councillor. The City of Ottawa will determine when publicly funded recreational centres will be built and where they will be located.

Will the Kichi Sibi multi-use trail connection through Tunney's be maintained?

The Kichi Sibi multi-use trail connection is maintained by a group of volunteers. The Government of Canada is happy to host the connection and provide parking for its use and the amended Master Plan does contemplate the continuation of the trail.

Will there be affordable housing and if so, what percentage? Will it be truly affordable?

Yes, this is a key goal for Tunney’s and a commitment made by Canada Lands. A minimum of 20% of the residential component of the site will be dedicated to affordable housing. This will include some units that are deeply affordable. The ratio of market to deeply affordable units, prices, qualification requirements, providers and the size/type of units will be decided in collaboration with the City of Ottawa and its policies, and through discussions with the affordable housing community and other partners (note, the Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation (CCOC) is a member of the Tunney's Pasture Communities’ Perspectives Group). 

PSPC and Canada Lands have worked closely with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in the implementation of the Federal Lands Initiative, a program to advance affordable housing projects. Since its inception, Canada Lands has provided over 2,800 affordable housing units in its projects across Canada and Tunney’s Pasture will be no exception. In other projects in Ottawa, Canada Lands has partnered with Habitat for Humanity, Multifaith Housing Initiative, and Ottawa Community Housing. 

Will the redevelopment be sustainable?

Yes. As stewards of Tunney’s Pasture, the federal government and Canada Lands have an opportunity to redevelop the site as a showcase for sustainability in Canada.

Since the development of the Master Plan, a framework was established to provide clear objectives for environmental, social, and economic sustainability for the development.   

This will be achieved in a number of ways, including the implementation of:

• a comprehensive sustainability framework, which takes a holistic approach to building and sustaining a healthy community
• low carbon (and eventually carbon-neutral) heating and cooling of the federal buildings on site through the Government of Canada’s Energy Services Acquisition Program (ESAP)
• transit-oriented development (TOD) best practices, including parking limits and amenities for active transportation

Are there plans to add green space to this site?

Yes. The amended Master Plan has increased green spaces to almost 80,000 square meters, an increase of more than 55,000 square meters than the original. The plan provides for parks, and large open spaces that support an active lifestyle. Yes.

Has construction work at Tunney’s Pasture started? There seems to be construction happening on the site.

Construction work is currently underway in the North-West corner as part the Energy Services Acquisition Program (ESAP), a project to create energy efficiencies and reduce the federal government’s carbon footprint. While it is not directly related to the Master Plan, it does complement the overall vision for the site. The Tunney’s Pasture Energy Centre construction completion is scheduled for the fall of 2025.

PSPC is in the process of modernizing the energy centres that provide heating for 80 buildings and cooling for 67 buildings in the National Capital Region, including those at Tunney’s Pasture. This is part of the broader Government of Canada strategy to green its operations and meet climate change commitments. 

Are Canada Lands and PSPC engaging with Indigenous peoples on this project?

Yes, we are engaging with Indigenous communities on the implementation of the Master Plan in support of the government’s commitment to reconciliation. Conversations are ongoing. In addition, the Government of Canada and Indigenous communities are exploring their interest in the site. Any potential disposal will also require PSPC to consult with various Indigenous communities and organizations.