On October 21, 2010, DCC employees Jeffrey Hopkins( from left), Tony Ambrosio, James Paul and Frederick Hart attended a sod turning ceremony to mark the upgrade at CFS St. John’ s.
Project: consolidating CFS St. John’ S
With the awarding of the largest single building contract in Newfoundland and Labrador’ s history, the Corporation is not only helping to consolidate DND’ s facilities at CFS St. John’ s, but is also preserving a location and presence significant in Canadian military history. The property known as Pleasantville was used as a training ground for the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during World War I. It later operated as an American military base, chosen because of the largely ice-free deep harbour in St. John’ s. It has been operating as a Canadian Forces Station for more than 40 years.
Its history, however, is working against it when it comes to the state of the buildings on the site: deteriorated, dysfunctional and widely dispersed over 25.5 hectares of land. Now, DCC has awarded a $ 117-million contract to Bird Construction to replace 13 buildings with a single building. The contract involves demolition, site remediation and new construction, as well as finding space for and relocating more than 700 station personnel during the process.
The new four-storey, 28,000-square-metre, multi-use facility will house vehicle maintenance garages, warehouse space, a gymnasium, a medical unit, a mess hall and offices, and will be constructed to a LEED Silver standard. A second project will improve roads leading to and within the site, and includes a Military Family Resource Centre.
Complicating the process are the need to ship construction materials into Newfoundland and the challenge of procuring construction tradespeople, who are in short supply in St. John’ s due to a hot building market. In addition, the project has been developed as a“ draw / build” rather than a“ design / build” project. This means that many elements of the project, including the footprint and look, were already decided on, but the contractor had to design others, such as details of the electrical and mechanical systems, before submitting a bid.
Completion is expected in fiscal 2013-14— a welcome development for those who work and live at CFS St. John’ s, who have been anticipating the project since 2006.
130 BREAKING NEW GROUND DEFENCE CONSTRUCTION CANADA