In January 2022, in La Pressethe fire chief of Ville de Montréal was concerned about the proliferation of vacant buildings downtown in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the vacancy problem is very real in Montreal, and Covid-19 has only aggravated an already alarming situation. Ville de Montréal doesn't have a complete register of vacant buildings, but a simple stroll through the city's central districts reveals the extent and persistence of the problem. The number of derelict buildings also includes a significant number of buildings and complexes of heritage interest. Chronicle of a death foretold? Héritage Montréal persists: new avenues must be developed to preserve the city's heritage!
For several years now, the number of public, private or institutional heritage complexes that are either abandoned or in the process of being abandoned has continued to grow in Montreal. Think, for example, of the Saint-Sulpice library, the former Hôtel-Dieu, Royal Victoria and Misericorde hospitals, or the Institut des Sourdes-muettes, all of which are now under threat of deterioration or even demolition.
It is therefore not surprising that, despite their architectural and memorial wealth, these buildings are primarily perceived by public decision-makers as problems to be managed. Vacancy carries many risks for both the site itself and the neighbourhood: deterioration, property devaluation, fire, vandalism and, ultimately, demolition. In the case of a historic building or complex, this risk is all the greater as, over time, it becomes increasingly fragile and difficult to rehabilitate, which has a serious impact on its architectural value. This vacancy also has an impact on the meaning of the place: we are slowly moving from high places of memory to disinvested non-places, stripped of their function and of their links with the community to which they belong. It should also be noted that, from an environmental and economic point of view, this is a loss of resources that we cannot support as a society.
And yet, as several authors suggest, vacant heritage buildings also have incomparable development potential; they are, in a way, places of all possibilities.
Héritage Montréal and vacant property
Héritage Montréal has been addressing this issue for several years now. The organization has adopted several resolutions in this regard. Take, for example, our 2013 resolution on The future of Montreal's institutional heritage estate (2013-02), in which we called on gouvernement du Québec and Montreal authorities to work together to put in place a transparent formula for a proactive multiparty partnership to plan and manage these heritage properties and their reconversion into new uses. transparent formula for a proactive multiparty partnership to plan and manage these heritage properties and their reconversion in the collective interest and with respect for their heritage and emblematic values. Let's also think about our resolution on Heritage Investment Incentives, adopted in 2015 (2015-02) by which we recommended:
- That the governments of Quebec and Canada adopt fiscal incentives to support and accelerate non-public sector investment in built heritage, its conservation, revitalization and enhancement, and ;
- That Quebec's current cultural heritage legislation and future legislation on metropolitan status and on land use and urban planning incorporate such strategic approaches, particularly with regard to the reallocation of the institutional heritage domain.
In 2019, in the wake of thefire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, Héritage Montréal also adopted a resolution on Heritage security (2019-04) in which we recommended thata statement of the vulnerability and security of the heritage of the metropolis and its neighborhoods (vacant and vulnerable buildings, fires, technological accidents, natural disasters, meteorological events, vandalism, etc.) be drawn up and kept up to date by fire and heritage service managers in collaboration with the academic sectors, the associative community and the staff of fire stations and police stations..
The authorities concerned with the issue of vacant heritage should consider the establishment of such inventories as a priority. Several studies have shown that an exhaustive inventory of vacancy can contribute to better requalification. Montreal would therefore benefit from drawing up inventories of vacant buildings and heritage complexes, identifying not only their location and heritage values, but also their state of vulnerability. These inventories should also be updated and integrated into civil security plans, documents available to fire stations and emergency vehicles, development plans, and awareness and funding programmes. Prevention, response, reconstruction and recovery would greatly benefit from such an exercise.
In order to demystify the theme of vacant heritage, Héritage Montréal, in collaboration with the McCord Museum, finally organized an urban exchange on vacant heritage: STAGNATION: ABANDONED HERITAGE BUILDINGS. In this context, Édith Cyr (Executive Director of Bâtir son Quartier), Clément Demers (consultant in the development and management of development projects) and Francis T. Durocher (Project Director, Entremise) presented the issues, the challenges and the many potentials of vacant heritage. In this context, they discussed exemplary projects (e.g. the requalification of the Bon Pasteur Monastery), but also obstacles to be eliminated in order to promote preservation (e.g. by allowing certain regulatory relaxations). The event was strongly inspired by our 2021 resolution on trusts and transitional strategies for heritage buildings and ensembles (2021-04). These are two very interesting tools that need to be deployed to get the city out of a situation that has been stagnant for too long.
Transitional urbanism: preservation, accessibility and innovation
Considering that this is an interesting and innovative solution for Montreal's vacant heritage, Héritage Montréal has been involved for several years now in promoting transitional urbanism in Montreal, supporting in particular the social economy organization Entremise. Since 2016, this organization has made a significant contribution to the reflection and experimentation of this tool, which was included in the Plan d’action en patrimoine de la Ville de Montréal in 2017. That same year, the City of Montreal, in collaboration with Entremise, launched the Laboratoire Transitoire initiative, which aimed to set up a dozen transitional occupation projects in municipal buildings. The Young project in Griffintown and the Cité des hospitalières, in the former convent and orchard of the Hospitalières de Saint-Joseph nuns at Hôtel-Dieu, are among the results of this initiative. But what exactly is transitional urbanism?
Transitional urbanism is a form of temporary urbanism that puts forward short- and medium-term occupation and development initiatives in order to feed in situ reflections on the future of the site: shops, bars, shared work spaces, festival spaces or simple playful and inviting installations.
Historically, temporary occupations have largely been generated marginally and informally by individuals or citizen groups. The literature on the subject takes us back to the civic engagement movements of the 19th century and the squats of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, but there is also mention of the ephemeral installations of the event-driven city of the 1990s. While these initiatives have two major common denominators - the occupation of vacant spaces and a limited temporality - they differ in different ways, marked by changing contexts and motivations.(Baillargeon and Diaz, 2020)
The phenomenon has grown considerably in recent decades, to the point where we now speak of a 'temporary city' or 'pop-up': a city that develops in parallel with traditional planning, designed to compensate for a permanence that no longer seems to suit our age of ambivalence, uncertainty and speed. Over time, however, we notice that these temporary initiatives are increasingly planned, often supported and even organised by institutional levels. For example, with the 2018 New London Plan, the City of London is proposing a temporary use policy. More recently, the City of Paris has signed a charte pour le développement de l’occupation transitoire with about 15 public and private partners.
In French-speaking circles, these more formal initiatives are increasingly identified as 'transitional urbanism'. This planning practice differs from temporary urbanism in that it aims to make projects permanent from the outset. Transitional urbanism is thus seen as a stage prior to the implementation of a permanent project: it serves both to nurture and to prefigure sustainable uses in a given space in collaboration with temporary occupants and the community.
Social utility trusts: preserving a vocation for the common good
The social utility trust (SUF) is another tool, this time a legal one, which seems to us to be of interest for promoting the requalification of vacant buildings of heritage interest. Unlike traditional property rights, which primarily serve the interests of an owner (natural or legal person), "a SUT is dedicated to a vocation whose benefit is collective. No one has a real right to it, which makes it a legal exception: it is a property without an owner" (Tiess, 2021).(Tiess, 2021). To ensure the vocation of a property or a group of properties, an owner can place it in a FUS and thus protect it from the market. The administration of the property is then entrusted to one or more trustees. The property under trust may be subject to market activities, on an ancillary basis, in order to ensure its financing. The management of these activities may be entrusted to a third party, such as a conservation NPO.
It is the trust deed that provides the formal framework for the management of the trust by its trustee(s). This deed determines the assets, the allocation, the method of appointment of the board of trustees and the rules of governance of the FUS. "In addition to the earmarked assets, it is common to provide for the creation of funds to be paid into the FUS to accompany the realisation of the earmarking. For example, for the maintenance and preservation of the site"(Tiess, 2021). The FUS can also include the power to acquire and manage additional assets. This is a strong tool, as any changes to this act must go through the Superior Court, thus giving additional protection to the integrity of a site.
The FUS was incorporated into the Civil Code of Québec in 1994, but is still little known. It is a model that has been used mainly for the conservation of natural environments, such as the Domaine St-Bernard trust in the municipality of Tremblant, or to ensure the sustainability of land for agro-ecological purposes, such as the FUSA developed by Protec-Terre. But the formula can also be used to protect cultural heritage, such as the Fiducie du patrimoine culturel des Augustines (in Quebec City). This convent complex was taken off the market by means of a UST and now has charitable status. It can carry out secondary income-generating activities, such as hotel services, currently operated by an NPO. The act of incorporation also protects the intentions of the Augustinians and makes the population the main beneficiary of their legacy. Despite the success of this project, there are still very few examples of FUS dedicated to real estate in Quebec and the tool deserves to be better known, more thoroughly researched and deployed.
There are also several interesting similar experiences elsewhere in Canada, North America and Europe, such as conservation land trusts (land trust), which are very common in the United States, the housing land tr usts in France, and the Heritage Trust in Ontario. The latter is a Crown corporation established under the Ontario Heritage Act . Among other things, it can manage public properties for cultural purposes and receive donations of heritage properties or conservation easements, and contribute to their restoration and maintenance.
What to do to get the wheels turning?
Aware of the opportunities that lie ahead, Héritage Montréal is asking Ville de Montréal to adopt strategies for the mothballing and transitional use of disused heritage buildings, to ensure that their integrity is maintained while more permanent revitalization projects are developed and implemented.
Héritage Montréal also calls for the creation of a metropolitan heritage trust with adequate financial, legal and professional resources, and a consultation and monitoring mechanism to support these efforts.
Above all, we must stop thinking about the vacancy problem in silos. We need to develop a macro vision anchored in an effective action plan that is Montreal-style, with a vision of sustainable development and a legacy for the community.
Cover photo: Dinu Bumbaru
To learn more about vacant heritage, watch the March 23, 2022 Urban Exchange "Stagnant! Heritage buildings in disrepair":
Every spring, theHéritage Montréal adopts resolutions General Assembly adopts resolutions on issues that are important to it and that it considers to be priorities. In 2021, five resolutions have been adopted, and we have already published an article on the REM de l'Est. The article you have just read is the second in this series.
