Northern Lights and South Haven Cemeteries Expansion

The City of Edmonton retained a design team managed by EDA, to provide a Master Plan for a new cemetery to meet the City’s expanding burial needs. One of the priorities in the plan was to develop new areas in Northern Lights and South Haven cemeteries. EDA’s involvement included concept design, facility planning, master planning, site development, as well as detail design of specific elements within cemeteries such as entry gates, sanctuaries, columbaria, memorials, information kiosks and mapping and location systems.

After the concept plan report completion in 2018, EDA has continued to assist the City of Edmonton in full preliminary designs for the two cemeteries and detailed drawings to construct the selected priority items in the first phase of the expansion.

Severe drainage issues at South Haven cemeteries from snow melt and summer rainfall events have posted several grading design challenges which required intensive collaboration and communication between disciplines and between the project team and the City. EDA has identified cost control as an important part of these projects. Particular attention has been paid not only to upfront capital costs but also to full life cycle costs including performance and durability of specified materials. Specific focus was placed on sourcing materials locally, reducing transport costs and optimizing the budget. Plant materials have been specified locally, as there are multiple nurseries and sod farms in close proximity.

The final design was developed from the public feedback received, evaluation of existing geotechnical and servicing constraints, and alignment with existing City of Edmonton plans and policies. The project construction was completed in 2022.