The multibillion-dollar renovation of the Capitol Center Block building is on schedule and on budget, but construction workers are facing “pressure” on deadlines and overall costs, according to the project department. It is said that there is
Siavash Mohajar, senior director of Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), said during a tour with media members that the department was planning for some inflation, but “we weren’t expecting 8 per cent.” said.
Still, PSPC believes it can stay within its $4.5 billion to $5 billion budget and complete the building by 2031.
Some delays in the project had been factored into the schedule, but the excavation work beneath and below the 100-year-old building proved to be more complex than expected.
“It’s the location, it’s the type of rock we’re working with, it’s a historic building,” Mohajer told CTV News. “When you put all of these factors together, you would be hard-pressed to find a project of this scale and complexity anywhere in the world.”
The most complex part of the excavation so far has been around the foundation of the iconic Peace Tower. Mohajer said the team had to take a very “tough route” by using a small excavator.
As part of the renovation work, 800 pillars will be installed to stabilize the building. Using a series of 1,000 jacks to lift the center block and lower it onto a new poling system, the building can withstand a magnitude 6.5 earthquake.
Although some delays in the project had been factored into the schedule, the excavation of the 100-year-old building’s subterranean and basement areas proved more complex than expected. (CTV News)
Workers are also drilling 92 geothermal wells 250 meters underground that will house a new welcome center and heat and cool the renovated building once it reopens. The move is expected to transform Parliament House from one of the most energy-inefficient government buildings to one that meets net-zero carbon standards.
Keeping construction environmentally friendly was also a goal from the beginning, and PSPC says it has succeeded in keeping 95% of construction waste out of landfills. That’s despite removing 26 million pounds of hazardous materials, including asbestos and lead.
Most of the excavation work on the site has been completed, and visitors to Parliament House will see three new cranes erected on the site. These cranes will help construct the three-story deep visitor center, which will be the newest feature connecting the Center, East Block, and West Block.
Foundation work for the welcome center is scheduled to be completed by 2025.
A photographer takes a photo of the House of Commons during a tour of completed construction up to the Center Block, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in Ottawa. (Adrian Wilde/Canadian Press)
Inside the building, the heart of Canada’s democracy has been stripped down to its studs. The project will remove and restore more than 20,000 heritage sites. It contains hundreds of sculptures adorning the interior and exterior of the Gothic Revival building.
Danny Barber has lost count of the hours he spent restoring the 400-pound bison sculpture that hangs from one of the exterior walls. But the stone carvers in PSPC’s Decorative Arts team are glad to have been a part of the project.
“I’m very proud to have been able to work on this stone,” Barber told reporters. “These are not the kinds of things we often see on our benches. We were born 100 years too late.”
The number of House benches and space in the House of Representatives is another issue that the Center Block Rehabilitation Program team is currently working on. When MPs left the building in 2018, there were 338 MPs. The Fair Representation Act states that the number of MPs elected must be kept in line with the country’s population growth, so that number will be 343 at the next election.
But the physical space in the House chamber cannot be expanded, so officials are considering other options. “We have to try to incorporate some kind of seating, some kind of work surface, and a typology and layout that allows for that flexibility,” said Center Street Rehabilitation Program leader in the House of Representatives. said Darrell de Grandmont.
Canada is considering the possibility of using benches or unassigned seating, similar to the British House of Commons. “We’re currently at the stage where we’re looking at mock-ups to get MPs to actually sit in their seats and understand what they’re actually getting,” de Grandmont told CTV. told the news.
