Valley Park Middle School

VFA worked closely with a local school community to help them transform their school yard into a community and environmental hub to serve the diverse communities of Flemingdon Park and Thorncliffe Park. The work  includes a regulation size, high-performance natural turf cricket field, a clay running track, a multi-sport court, amphitheatre seating, a baseball diamond, a bio-swale, a constructed wetland with a viewing deck, and meadow and forest areas.

The environmental education areas not only demonstrate a range of functioning environments, but also mitigate the Valley slopes against effects of runoff from the cricket field, and help to recharge groundwater. The bio-swale and constructed wetland are also fed in part from the cricket field’s extensive sub-surface drainage system.

The project was realized through the coordinating and fundraising efforts of a local community group who brought VFA into contact with numerous stakeholders who made a range of contributions to the development of the design.