Various multi-unit buildings in and around the downtown

Built Form Standards

We're updating our Urban Design Manual and Built Form Standards, including standards for Downtown.

The Urban Design Manual was adopted in 2018, and the Downtown Streetscape was adopted in 2014, so it’s time for a refresh.

The updates are not intended to introduce major revisions, but instead will focus on:

streamlining existing guidelines and standards
consolidating information that is currently repeated in multiple places, and
update language.

This project will adapt existing built form standards to ensure there is design guidance for tall buildings throughout Guelph. In the end, our goals is to make the standards easier to implement as Guelph continues to grow.

Phases

Phases overview

Background work

Technical feedback from industry users

Building draft content

Draft Content Open Houses

More engagement coming soon

Technical feedback from industry users

September 29, 2025 - October 24, 2025

We're asking for feedback from

Builders
Developers
and people who already use the built form standards on a regular basis

Together we hope to Identify a preferred approach for streamlining the built for standards to make the development process easier for both the applicants and for staff to review.

We're starting this phase with a presentation and meeting on October 8 on Zoom. Meeting attendees are invited to complete a follow up survey to share specific feedback about potential improvements we could make to to the Urban Design Guidelines.

Take the survey

Note: This survey may not be relevant or clear to those who did not attend the workshop. Please reach out to william.turman@guelph.ca to get involved if this survey does not apply to you.