The St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral Creative Hub initiative – led by Pilot Projects in partnership with Relèven (Trinity Centres Foundation) – succeeded in collectively reimagining the property and buildings belonging to St. Paul's Anglican Church and the Anglican Diocese of Huron in downtown London, Ontario! The Creative Hub development will support London's designation as a UNESCO City of Music while establishing a financially sustainable business model that addresses multiple urban needs.

The project employed an urban co-design workshop methodology to engage key stakeholders including the diocese, city officials, developers, and community representatives in creating an integrated vision for the Cathedral District. This collaborative approach ensured diverse interests and objectives were incorporated into the development plan.

This project offers a replicable model for urban revitalization that preserves the existing uses of the site while creating innovative spaces for creative economy development. Through the workshop we collectively addressed infrastructure challenges, institutional barriers, and community needs that have limited the potential of this significant downtown site. This was achieved through:

1. Enhanced Creative Space Development Transforming the cathedral and surrounding buildings into versatile spaces that support London's creative economy, with particular focus on music programming that strengthens the city's UNESCO designation. The main sanctuary and Cronyn Hall were suggested to be reserved for large event spaces, while other buildings like 200 Queens Ave. will house complementary programs such as the Food Bank and coworking spaces.

2. Integrated Urban Design and Activation Hub Creating a cohesive Cathedral District that connects cultural assets throughout downtown London. The design draws inspiration from successful models like CSpace in Calgary and Bryant Park in New York, integrating indoor and outdoor spaces through thoughtful landscaping and programming. This hub will foster collaboration between arts, faith, social services, housing, and public space stakeholders.

3. Strengthened Community Capacity and Stakeholder Collaboration Building relationships between diverse stakeholders to ensure the development addresses multiple community needs while remaining financially sustainable. The co-design process explicitly addressed potential areas of friction, with outcomes monitored to offer a scalable model for urban revitalization projects elsewhere.

   
   

Background 

St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral occupies a significant downtown location in London, Ontario, but faces challenges in maintaining financial sustainability while serving community needs. The Trinity Centres Foundation has been tasked with exploring new development scenarios that support London's creative economy goals while preserving the site's heritage value.

Despite London's designation as a UNESCO City of Music, the city lacks adequate infrastructure to fully leverage this recognition. Meanwhile, St. Paul's Cathedral and surrounding buildings represent untapped potential for creating vibrant, multi-purpose spaces that could address several urban challenges simultaneously.

The Anglican Diocese faces decreasing congregation numbers and increasing maintenance costs, making it difficult to sustain operations without reimagining how the buildings can serve broader community purposes. At the same time, downtown London needs more creative spaces, social services, and vibrant public areas to revitalize the urban core.

To address these issues, the project proposes establishing a Creative Hub through a collaborative co-design process that engages stakeholders in reimagining how the cathedral and surrounding properties can better serve community needs while becoming financially sustainable. The co-design workshops facilitate rapid progress on complex design challenges by bringing key stakeholders together to articulate vision, goals, and specific implementation plans.

What is Relèven? 

Relèven (formerly known as the Trinity Centres Foundation) specializes in repurposing faith buildings for community benefit. Relèven works with religious organizations facing declining congregations and increasing maintenance costs to reimagine how their buildings can serve broader community purposes while preserving their heritage value.

Relèven applies innovative financing and development models that balance social impact with financial sustainability. Their approach focuses on creating mixed-use spaces that serve diverse community needs while respecting the original character and purpose of faith buildings.

For more information about Relèven and their portfolio of projects, please visit their website.