Winnipeg | University of Manitoba | Southwood Circle

[Wpg_Guy]

Site services for the Anne Oake Recovery Centre.

stormthecastlemedia

[trueviking]

Currently at the Southwood Cargo Bar. 6:30pm. Mid-August. 23°c.

6 people.

[FactaNV]

What a terrible idea that was...

[Wpg_Guy]

Nobody knows it's there.

[Malcsta]

What the hell is even that

[Belivieve in Wpg]

I was there with my wife and our dog a few weekends ago. Great spot. Lots of shade, music was varied and we had a great time. It is the same set up like Assiniboine Park and the Beer Can. If you live in the south end of the city, check it out!

[Wpg_Guy]

• Video Link

[lbnevs]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

• Video Link

"They should use the money from parking to add more spaces"

"Build up is the only answer"

So, basically, they should use the $85 a month/stall they get from students to build a $40k/stall parkade?

[WildCake]

Originally Posted by lbnevs

"They should use the money from parking to add more spaces"

"Build up is the only answer"

So, basically, they should use the $85 a month/stall they get from students to build a $40k/stall parkade?

Yea, satellite view of campus will show you how much space is already dedicated to cars there. I doubt the U of M is entertaining more parking or parkades.

Gotta feel for the students though, with the transit rejig there's a ton of complaints from those that try using Transit to get to campus that busses are crammed full and they're getting passed by multiple busses, even on the Blue Line.

Transit with it's current funding is not reliable nor a reasonable alternative to driving for those that have the means (or parental resources) to afford a car.

I'm on a major artery in old St Vital and to get to the U of M Fort Garry campus, it's a 15-20 min drive, 30-35 min bike, or a 1h to 1h30 bus, each way. Do that 5x per week and it would cost me about 7.5-12.5 hours per week vs driving, or 5-10h vs biking (plus I get exercise), assuming Transit is on time to what Google Maps is telling me right now.

Even the variability between options is enough to turn me off bussing. For my drive to jump by 50% from the normal, there would probably need an accident in a snow storm at rush hour over the Abinojii bridge, whereas for bussing that's just the normal range provided.

That's a lot of time to spend on a bus that could be spent studying or making some cash at a part time job.

[lbnevs]

Originally Posted by WildCake

Yea, satellite view of campus will show you how much space is already dedicated to cars there. I doubt the U of M is entertaining more parking or parkades.

Gotta feel for the students though, with the transit rejig there's a ton of complaints from those that try using Transit to get to campus that busses are crammed full and they're getting passed by multiple busses, even on the Blue Line.

Sure, I get it. But if you have a car, you don't even have to take the bus from home if it's inconvenient or complicated. You can drive to Seel or Clarence and just park there, then take the Blue and get dropped right in front of the quad. Students have a bus pass included in their student fees.

[Wpgstvsouth94]

What is going on with this development? Is it dead? Not one 30+ story proposal or anything of that matter.

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by Wpgstvsouth94

What is going on with this development? Is it dead? Not one 30+ story proposal or anything of that matter.

UM Properties is currently in discussions with several building developers and anticipates that construction of the first building will begin in 2027, with move-in expected approximately two years later.

[Wpg_Guy]

U of M research role expands after $79-M federal injection
Five international researchers recruited by university
By: Zoe Pierce
Friday, Aug. 28, 2026

The University of Manitoba is playing in a new league.

A $79-million investment will bring five internationally recruited researchers to Manitoba to build “ambitious,” long-term research programs in areas of strategic national importance.

The five researchers will join the U of M thanks to the federal government’s $1.7-billion research talent initiative that’s designed to help Canadian universities compete globally for leading researchers.

The initiative’s flagship program, the Eddie Goldenberg Research Chairs of Canada, provides universities with the funding and resources to recruit world-class researchers, build research teams and pursue large-scale projects in fields considered important to Canada — from Arctic navigation and defence to sustainable mining, health equity and environmental law.

In the first intake, universities across Canada competed for 64 available chairs by putting forward researchers they had hoped to recruit. The applications were reviewed through a national competition, and the federal government decided which proposals would receive funding.

The U of M ranked fifth among 21 Canadian institutions based on the number of chairs awarded. The university put forward seven applications to the federal competition and five were selected for funding.

Mario Pinto, the university’s vice-president (research and international), said the result puts the U of M in company with some of Canada’s largest research-intensive universities.

“We are finally playing in the league with universities such as U of T, McGill, UBC and Ottawa,” Pinto said. “It feels very good to be No. 5 in the country. We’ve never been in that league before, especially with these research-intensive chairs.”

Each professor is set to receive either $500,000 or $1 million per year toward their research over eight years.

Pinto said the U of M’s application strategy was to build a team around each researcher. The university identified its research strengths and brought together experts from across faculties to support each application.

Pinto compared the chair holders to lead actors surrounded by a supporting cast.

“What is the supporting cast from the University of Manitoba that we can bring to the table to surround and fortify these chairs so that they would have a broader impact?” he said.

The approach appears to have paid off: in the first intake, the U of M received more chairs than any other university on the Prairies. The University of Alberta received one, while the University of Calgary received two and the University of Saskatchewan received none.

Each chair will sit at the centre of what Pinto described as a research “hub” that will bring together expertise from related fields.

Among the five incoming researchers is Peter Reiners, an American geoscientist who will become the Eddie Goldenberg Research Chair in geoscience of subsurface fluid-rock systems for solutions in sustainability and security.

Reiners, who is currently at the University of Arizona, said he was attracted to the U of M by the strength of its Earth sciences and environmental sciences programs.

“I was definitely attracted to the people there and the work being done at the University of Manitoba,” he said.

Reiners studies fluid-rock systems beneath the Earth’s surface, including how fluids move through rocks, how those systems change over time and how underground resources can be used and managed.

More recently, Reiners has turned his attention to storing carbon dioxide underground as a way to tackle climate change.

“We need to figure out ways of removing that carbon, and not only removing it but storing it someplace durably and safely,” he said.

Reiners said the subsurface is capable of storing billions of tonnes of carbon, but doing so at the scale required to address climate change will involve more than a technical solution.

“It’s also a huge social and policy and economic challenge,” he said.

Reiners said he plans to meet with industry, governments, communities and Indigenous groups in Manitoba to understand local priorities before deciding where his research can have the greatest effect.

“You can’t really do anything effective and impactful at the scale we’re talking about unless communities feel, you know, consulted and engaged and have buy-in, and we understand their concerns,” he said.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to have the ability to work closely with the great scientists and community members in Winnipeg, at the University of Manitoba and throughout Manitoba and Canada to do something good.”

He will move from southern Arizona to Winnipeg in January.

“I have lived in many cold places, so I’m prepared,” Reiners said. “I’m actually really looking forward to it.”

The five chairs are a starting point rather than an endpoint for Pinto.

The university hopes the researchers will bring in new students and collaborators, generate new research and commercialization opportunities and help establish U of M as a stronger competitor for future national and international research funding.

“We are a university on the move,” Pinto said.

Winnipeg Free Press

[Wpg_Guy]

• Video Link

[Mr Tall Forehead]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-geothermal-district-9.7336977

So the province is putting $4M towards district wide geothermal in Southwood Circle. Honest question...does this add another layer of complexity to this project and make developers even more leery of it?

[cllew]

Is this going to be different from Waverly West?

I remember there was suppose to be geothermal installed in around 180 govt owned lots in that development in the early 2000's when it was announced. A few years later Manitoba Hydro backed out of the project as they could not make the numbers work to put it in at that scale.

The govt was willing to allow individual owners to spend around $25000 (2008 numbers) to install it if they wished.

[Wpg_Guy]

South Winnipeg neighbourhood will be first to go geothermal
Province chips in $4M for low-carbon heating, cooling project
Chris Kitching
Wednesday, Sep. 9, 2026


MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS

Environment and Climate Change Minister Mike Moyes speaks during Wednesday’s announcement.

A new neighbourhood in south Winnipeg will be Manitoba’s first to use a shared, large-scale geothermal system to heat and cool hundreds of homes over coming decades.

The province is giving up to $4 million to the developers of Southwood Circle, just north of the University of Manitoba’s Fort Garry campus, for a district geothermal system as part of the NDP’s goal to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

“It means a whole neighbourhood can tap into geothermal, which means low-carbon heating and cooling for at least 1,000 homes,” Premier Wab Kinew said at a news conference Wednesday.

Geothermal systems, equipped with pumps and pipes, use underground temperatures to heat and cool one or more buildings. Proponents point to long-term energy and cost savings compared with conventional heating and cooling systems.

Canadian Mennonite University’s campus and the Seasons of Tuxedo shopping complex in Winnipeg, and Île-des-Chênes’ arena, community centre and fire hall are examples of existing district systems in Manitoba.

Funding for Southwood Circle’s system is one of first steps in the government’s three-year, 90-action plan toward its net-zero goal. The province is forecasting more than $350 million in spending to cut carbon emissions.

Published Wednesday, the plan includes interim greenhouse gas emission targets, which Environment and Climate Change Minister Mike Moyes said will be released this fall, and more than $55 million in grants for businesses and industry, First Nations, farmers and others to reduce emissions.

At an estimated cost of $6 billion and footprint of 112 acres, Southwood Circle is Winnipeg’s largest residential mixed-use infill project. It is expected to be home to about 20,000 people when completed in more than 20 years.

The first residents are expected to move into their homes in 2028. The neighbourhood will feature medium- to high-rise condo and apartment buildings, townhouses and businesses.

Formerly occupied by Southwood Golf and Country Club, the land is owned by the U of M and leased to master developer UM Properties GP Inc., which Moyes said will own the district geothermal system.

He said the system will prevent 400 to 1,600 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, lowering the impact on Manitoba’s electricity grid.

“This is the first district geothermal model being used for residential. I think that is monumentous,” Moyes said. “We are showing this can be the way forward. Before you can (determine), ‘This is going to go across the whole sector,’ we need to demonstrate a proof of concept, and that’s exactly what this is going to do.”

James Wilt, a policy development manager with Climate Action Team Manitoba, welcomed the announcement.

“This is something climate and energy advocates in Manitoba have been pushing for for years, if not longer, and ground-source heat pumps in general are a well proven technology,” he said. “This is a really positive direction, and it’s something we want to see a lot more of.

“It has to be done well, and it has to be planned and installed properly, but I think industry and government is up to that challenge, and they’ve proven it can be done.”

District geothermal heating has greater efficiencies when a diverse mix of buildings, including non-residential, are connected, Wilt said.

Prior to the provincial government’s news conference, Mayor Scott Gillingham told the Free Press he’s very supportive, in principle, of the concept of using geothermal energy to heat and cool buildings.

Winnipeg Free Press

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by cllew

Is this going to be different from Waverly West?

I remember there was suppose to be geothermal installed in around 180 govt owned lots in that development in the early 2000's when it was announced. A few years later Manitoba Hydro backed out of the project as they could not make the numbers work to put it in at that scale.

The govt was willing to allow individual owners to spend around $25000 (2008 numbers) to install it if they wished.

It will be different, a lot has changed in 20 years, there is government dollars and support for the system at Southwood where Waverly West's plans were dropped for a mix of cost, technical, and market reasons.

Geothermal dealt 'black eye' by Waverley West decision
CBC News · Posted: Mar 13, 2008

[Wpg_Guy]

Southwood Circle has achieved LEED Platinum certification, becoming the first and only LEED for Neighborhood Development project in Manitoba to receive this level of recognition.

The certification recognizes Southwood Circle as a leading example of sustainable community development and reflects the project’s commitment to thoughtful planning, environmental responsibility, and creating a more sustainable approach to how communities are designed and built.

Achieving LEED Platinum also reinforces Southwood Circle’s role in demonstrating how sustainability can be integrated into the long-term transformation of urban spaces in Winnipeg.

Southwood Circle

[borkborkbork]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

Winnipeg Free Press

*taps forehead sagely* a neighbourhood with zero buildings has zero emissions