Case Study

Scotia Square

MIXED-USE RETAIL AND OFFICE COMPLEX
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Background

Crombie REIT’s Scotia Square was the first enclosed shopping centre in Halifax and during the 60’s and 70’s was considered a premier shopping destination. With the addition of larger enclosed shopping malls to the market and retail parks like Bayers Lake, consumers gradually shifted their retail shopping focus away from Scotia Square and the downtown.

Since that time, the complex has renovated extensively and evolved into today’s vibrant and centrally connected hub to address daily needs in the downtown office core. Scotia Square is home to over five thousand employees occupying 1.7 million square feet of mixed use space, and boasts the largest food court and enclosed parking facility in downtown Halifax.

Challenges

Burke & Burke completely rebranded Scotia Square in 2006, an exercise which was long overdue at that time. The 2006 brand, which extended to wayfinding, marketing, and online applications, held up admirably, but the Square’s dramatic physical transformations leading up to 2017 demanded an image refresh worthy of Scotia Square’s contemporary and extensive makeover. The new identity also fused Scotia Square, and all its components, with the leasing identity of Halifax Developments Limited, which was phased out.

Process

As with the 2006 rebrand of this vital downtown property, we wanted to ensure that our efforts would create a visual evolution of the original brand created the 1970’s, through the transformation of the 2006 identity to emerge as fresh and appropriate to 2017 mindsets. Most importantly, the new brand must remain timeless in order to carry the landmark’s image appropriately for years to come.

Outcome

The Burke & Burke team developed a comprehensive and tightly integrated identity evolution for Scotia Square in 2017, which created freshness while maintaining consistency for all components. The refresh approach was incorporated into online assets, external marketing efforts, and a cohesive signage and wayfinding system which will ensure the external presentation of Scotia Square lives up to the completely revamped downtown hub frequented by thousands every day.