New community centre/library branch opens in eastern Laval

Martin C. Barry, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The residents of Saint-François and Duvernay-Est, two of Laval’s largest and most isolated districts, will be able to boast from now that they have one of the city’s newest multi-purpose pieces of infrastructure.

The Espace citoyen des Confluents (ECC), which is located on a soon to be developed green patch in Laval’s sprawling but rapidly-expanding east-end, was officially opened by Mayor Stéphane Boyer last Friday evening, along with a few city councillors and members of the Quebec National Assembly.

The Marius-Barbeau branch of the City of Laval’s library network, as well as a community centre and offices for the Laval Police Dept.’s Azimut public safety unit, are now all located in the ECC building at 1000 Marie-Uguay St.

Fulfilling a need

The ECC is around four kilometres east of Autoroute 25 and nearly two kilometres south of Marcel-Villeneuve Ave. The city says the project was largely the result of a public consultation in which residents from the sectors said they needed a comprehensive point-of-service like this.

According to a press release issued by the city, the library branch now has three times more room with 1,800 square metres. The community centre has several multi-purpose rooms, and there are plans to eventually create a small auditorium with a 180-person seating capacity.

“Today is a big day for the population of the east end of Laval,” Mayor Boyer said before proceeding along with some of the leading figures in the project with a formal red ribbon cutting. He said Espace citoyen des Confluents was a project the city and its partners had been working on since 2017.

‘A major addition,’ says Boyer

“I am extremely proud of its realization,” he added. “With one of the largest libraries on the island and a multitude of close-by services, this is a major addition to our cultural and community offerings in the districts of Saint-François and Duvernay-Est. I invite the citizens of the sector to take full advantage and to make this new space their own.”

The $41 million cost was shared by the City of Laval and the provincial government. The Legault government was represented at the opening by Vimont CAQ MNA Valérie Schmaltz, with Mille-Îles Liberal MNA Virginie Dufour also among the guests.

In a statement issued by the city, they acknowledge that the eastern portion of Laval is undergoing a period of protracted growth. In addition to the other facilities, the ECC complex has games rooms, a kitchen, an outdoor community garden and terraces, and bicycle and skateboard locking racks, with options to carry out maintenance and repairs.

The city notes that with the additional space, the library branch has added to its book and documents collections, which now include 55,000 items. The branch also has new digital equipment, a video games section for teens, and three times as many self-service computer terminals.

LEED Gold for ECC

The city succeeded in obtaining a LEED Gold certification for the building, based on its construction according to internationally-recognized environmentally-sustainable standards. The city points out that it carefully chose the location of the ECC, taking into account that a grid of future nearby streets has already been laid out, along with cycling paths, public green spaces and other features.

The city commissioned Quebec-based sculptor Ludovic Boney to create a special work to hang over the entrance lobby of the ECC. Suspended from the ceiling, Système d’assemblage is a mix of sculpture and architecture, composed of 597 colorful, triangular plaques and modules symbolizing the ECC’s multidimensional purpose.

Ludovic Boney previously created more than 20 works of public art for organizations such as the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, as well as for the municipalities of Trois Rivières and Quebec City.