With the theme “Be Open to the Possibilities” the public meeting will be held at the Queen’s Inn on Monday September 8th at 7:30 pm. and will include the panel discussion followed by a question and answer session.

“The panel has been structured to include well known Stratford residents with a long time interest and connection to the site and heritage professionals who can bring an outside perspective to the discussion of the future of the GTR Shops,” said Rick Huband, President of the Stratford/Perth County ACO. The panelists are:

Dean Robinson is a former journalist and journalism teacher at Conestoga College. He is also the author and editor of more than twenty books ranging from biographies to local histories. His most recent book “Railway Stratford Revisited” was published in 2012 and has become the definitive history of the Shops and the railway to Stratford. Dean will lead off the panel discussion with an overview of the economic, social and cultural importance of the Shops to the history of Stratford. Thor Dingman is an Ontario Registered Designer and Heritage Consultant who has worked for more than twenty years in Stratford and Southwestern Ontario preserving heritage buildings. Thor’s first interest in the shops began in 1988 as the subject of his graduate thesis, which envisioned an adaptive reuse for the Shops as a theatre school and performance space. He will provide an overview of the recent history of the site from redevelopment attempts, city expropriation, the building of the University of Waterloo campus to the present.

Michael Wilson is a local architect with Marklevitz Architects who have been responsible for adaptive reuse projects such as the Jenny Trout Centre in Stratford and more recently the repurposing of the former St. Marys Opera House. Michael’s association with the shops goes back more than thirty years when , in 1984, he worked the last shift at the then Cooper Bessemer Plant , assembling back-up generators for the Darlington Nuclear Power Authority. Michael will discuss the interrelationship between the future development of the GTR Shops/Cooper site and Market Square as the two most important projects for the economic revitalization of Stratford’s downtown core.

Catherine Nasmith is a Toronto architect specializing in the restoration of heritage and historic buildings. She is a former president of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, past Chair of the Toronto Preservation Board and a founder of the highly successful Doors Open Program across Canada. She will discuss and draw on lessons learned from one of her projects, the restoration of a 120 year old derelict mill which has been transformed into the Alton Mills Arts Centre that houses studio space for thirty artists, galleries, a heritage museum, café and unique retail shops.

Alex Speigel will bring a private sector perspective to the discussion. He is the head of the Toronto office of Windmill Development Group, which is a Canadian company that specializes in environmentally sustainable development. One of Windmill’s current projects is a major urban redevelopment of a former nineteenth century industrial site spanning the Ottawa River in the National Capital Area within sight of Parliament Hill, the National Gallery and the new Canadian War Museum. The proposed residential, commercial and communal redevelopment will harmoniously integrate modern environmentally sustainable infrastructure into the heritage fabric of the historically rich site.

+++ Dr. John Lewis, an Associate Professor in the School of Planning, at the University of Waterloo will outline a project his class will undertake this term to develop concepts for the Shops and Site using the latest in digital and imaging technology and members of the public will be able to discuss the project with John and his students at the break,”

 The public will also be offered a rare glimpse of the interior of the Shops as they exist today, in an installation of photographs taken by Stratford photographer, Lesley Walker-Fitzpatrick, which will be shown along with its regular exhibits by the Agora Gallery located at 17 Market Place from September 3 to 28, between 10 am and 6 pm.