A long term relationship: Macewan University

A testament to Thurber's long-term client relationships

Cities have historically grown around locations that made transportation easy, such as rivers, lakes and railways. The City of Edmonton is no different and for over 90 years a major railway yard lived in the heart of downtown. The yards functioned until 1988, with redevelopment beginning in the early 1990s.

Today, the former city centre rail yards have been transformed into vibrant developments including the Ice District, Station Lands, Rogers Place, Brewery District and MacEwan University’s City Centre Campus. Redeveloping the site, however, presented significant challenges. Former railyards often leave behind complex environmental legacies that must be carefully addressed before new development can take place.

Thurber has been supporting MacEwan University in addressing the historic railyard contamination since the early 90s as they grow their City Centre Campus.

Thurber’s work has involved addressing historical contamination from fuel tanks, coal, diesel, kerosene, and more. We have provided a full slate of environmental, geotechnical, and materials testing services for the campus development. We have also provided an array of specialized services including risk management planning, exposure pathway assessments, hazardous building materials assessments, and radon measurements and mitigation assistance. All this has been with one aim: to help MacEwan University build a campus that is safe for its staff and students.

Our work has paid off: the campus has gone from being an unusable former industrial site to a thriving urban centre, complete with LEED-certified buildings.

The most recent building that Thurber supported was the new school of business building which we remediated between January 2023 and December 2025. For this building, Thurber addressed salinity impacts from former roadways through remediation activities involving soil removal. Our aim was to limit the amount of contaminant going to the landfill and we therefore made use of a soil recycler in Edmonton.

What makes this project truly different from other remediation projects is the dedicated Thurber team that has been servicing MacEwan for the past 30 years. Thurber continues to support MacEwan’s growth: we are currently conducting assessment and remediation between 104^th Ave and 106^th Ave to support upcoming buildings and campus growth.