Reimagining North End Seating

The concrete planters along Gottingen Street are getting a facelift! The North End Business Association (NEBA) is collaborating with four design firms and partnering community groups to bring public street furniture to Gottingen Street. With a $50,000 grant from the Nova Scotia Business and Labour Economic Coalition (NSBLEC) in partnership with Develop Nova Scotia, NEBA is aiming to build connections, relationships, and story-telling in the North End while creating opportunities for people to gather, and be in their community. Built in 2003, the once vibrant Gottingen Street planters housed trees and perennial flowers but have since been subject to neglect and 20 years of wear and tear. It is our goal to breathe new life into these planters to create new opportunities for public seating, interaction, and community growth.

NEBA is joined by our friends at Omar Gandhi Architect, Cities and Environment Unit, Peter Henry Architect, and FBM Architecture to reimagine the concrete planters on Gottingen Street. These firms have collectively adopted six planters and will work in collaboration with their partnering community organizations at Phoenix Youth, Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre, Radstorm and the Bus Stop Theatre. Together they will creatively design and build public seating, along with other implementations such as plants, signage, art or activations, to bring life and colour to the Gottingen neighbourhood. In the coming months, you will see our partners transform the Gottingen planters into these new spaces.

Additionally, funding from NSBLEC facilitated a community bench building workshop during the Agricola Open Streets event on September 12th. Working with the Cities and Environment Unit, 10 benches were built with help from community members. This fun and interactive project helped to provide much-needed seating along Agricola Street. You will see these colourfully painted benches deployed throughout Agricola, we hope you enjoy and rest a while in our beautiful community.