Burnside is a Canadian urban neighbourhood located along the northeast shore of

Bedford Basin Bedford Basin is a large enclosed bay, forming the northwestern end of Halifax Harbour on Canada's Atlantic coast. It is named in honour of John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford. Geography Geographically, the basin is situated entirely within th ...

of the

Halifax Regional Municipality Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Dartmouth ( ) (Scottish Gaelic, Scottish-Gaelic: Baile nan Loch) is a Urban area, built-up community of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada. Located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour, Dartmouth has 101 ...

History

Burnside was the name originally given to the farm of Duncan Waddell, a

Scotsman Scottish people or Scots (; ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland (o ...

who had settled the area. ''Burn'' comes from the

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

word for "stream", since one flowed through the property. Gradually, his land was sold off to various industries, including National Gypsum, a brickyard, a steel company, an oil terminal, and the Bedford Magazine. More recently, Burnside has been the location of a major concentration of industry and commercial development since the 1970 completion of the A. Murray MacKay Bridge near the previously existing

Industrial Estate An industrial park, also known as industrial estate or trading estate, is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more heavyweight version of a business park or office par ...

, which had only 4 enterprises prior to the bridge opening. There are very few dwellings in Burnside as it is used almost exclusively for commercial operations; the only residential areas being the adjacent communities of Highfield Park, Albro Lake and Wright's Cove. Burnside Industrial Park was formally opened by Dartmouth mayor Roland J. Thornhill in December 1969. By the mid-1970s, Burnside was home to 360 industries employing over 4,500 people.

Burnside Park

Burnside Park, formerly known as Dartmouth Industrial Park, then Burnside Industrial Park and later Burnside Business Park, is a major commercial and industrial development located in the community of Burnside along the northeast shore of Bedford Basin. It encompasses about 3,400 acres (1,376 hectares) of land running up the hill from the Basin and was developed as the former City of Dartmouth's industrial park following the completion of the A. Murray MacKay Bridge in 1970. Current employment estimates state that 17,000 people regularly work in the park and there are more than 1,000 employers. A wide variety of businesses are located in Burnside, mostly specializing in sales,

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

, and services. The park is composed mostly of low-rise office buildings, warehouses and retail stores. Burnside Traffic

Its location has played a large role in its success. The construction of the A. Murray MacKay Bridge resulted in a boom of development in the area, since it provided a quick link to

Halifax Peninsula The Halifax Peninsula is a peninsula within the Urban area, urban area of the Halifax, Nova Scotia, Municipality of Halifax, Nova Scotia. History The town of Halifax was founded by the Kingdom of Great Britain, British government under the di ...

, the Fairview Cove container terminal, the Halterm/south end container terminal, as well as many residential areas in the north end and Clayton Park, where many of the park's employees live. Furniture manufacturer, Swedwood Canada began operations in Burnside Park in 1987. From 1991–2004 the company was operated by

IKEA IKEA ( , ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Sweden that designs and sells , household goods, and various related services. IKEA is owned and operated by a series of not-for-profit an ...

. In 2004 Scanwood Canada purchased the company from IKEA Group with the assistance of

Nova Scotia Business Inc. A nova ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white ...

Now Nova Scotia owned, the company has diversified while continuing to maintain its IKEA contracts.Nova Scotia Business Inc. (July 9, 2004)
News Release
. Retrieved on: May 4, 2008. Due to the size and nature of the park, there are several hotels oriented towards business travellers located within its boundaries, including a

Ramada Ramada is a large American multinational hotel chain owned by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. As of December 31, 2022, it operates 851 hotels with 120,344 rooms across 63 countries under the Ramada brand. Name The ''Ramada'' name derives from th ...

, a Day's Inn, and a Comfort Inn. The park includes the smaller City of Lakes business incubator park. Burnside Park underwent an expansion in its eastern end during 2006 with the adjacent development of the Dartmouth Crossing retail and office development.

Transportation

Burnside is served by the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

(CN). The CN Dartmouth Subdivision passes through the area, from which three

branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

s extend to different parts of the industrial park. The area is adjacent to several major provincial highways, including Highway 107, Highway 111, and Highway 118. Public transit service is provided by

Halifax Transit Halifax Transit is a Canadian public transport service operating buses and ferries in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Founded as Metro Transit in March 1981, the agency runs two ferry routes, 66 conventional bus routes (including corridor, local, and expre ...

, operated by the municipal government. The city plans to construct a bus station, called Wrights Cove Terminal, just off Windmill Road in the future.

References

External links

Burnside Park - Official website

Development requirements PDF (Aesthetic standards for new development, etc.)
{{Communities of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Industrial parks in Canada Business parks of Canada Communities in Halifax, Nova Scotia Power centres (retail) in Canada Dartmouth, Nova Scotia