Breaking New Ground—Stories from Defence Construction Breaking_new_ground | Page 82

Project: Ship Repair Units
At the same time as facilities were being renovated and
constructed on both the West and East coasts to
accommodate the new Aurora aircraft, Ship Repair
Units (SRUs) were being built to provide for the repair,
maintenance and overhaul of the Navy’s ships. On the
East coast, the SRU was part of the Halifax Base Devel-
opment Plan, and created some of the most important
activity that DCC was involved in through the early 1980s.
The work began with construction of the $93 million
Jetty 2 at the Halifax dockyard. Contracts were being
awarded by December 1980, and continued for the next
four years, slightly delayed by an electricians’ strike that
lasted from May to November 1983. The SRU (Atlantic)
Building and Jetty 8 were both completed in 1984.

The royal touch…
Halifax, 1983—Flo Jollymore
When I first started working with DCL, in May 1980, the
Ship Repair Unit (Atlantic) project was just getting
under way… In June 1983, when the project was near
completion, their Royal Highnesses the Prince and
Princess of Wales were touring Canada and one of their
scheduled events in Nova Scotia was to be the unveiling
of a commemorative plaque at the new facility. A special
stage was erected and the plaque was put in place. For
a while, panic prevailed when the wand to be used in
the unveiling went missing, but a few phone calls were
made, and a replacement was found in time. The DCL
staff on the project were given personal invitations to
attend the unveiling. Though the weather was not all
that good, the ceremony went off very well.
Flo Jolly more joined DCC in 1980 and was Secretary
in the DCC office at CFB Halifax until her retirement
in 1990.
In addition, the mid- to late 1980s saw projects that
included Maritime Command’s new $15 million head-
quarters building (designed to suggest the prow of
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DEFENCE CONSTRUCTION CANADA