Breaking New Ground—Stories from Defence Construction Breaking_new_ground | Page 66

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, CFB
Valcartier near Quebec City underwent a
significant expansion. This aerial photograph,
taken in 1974, shows the tank facilities
and training buildings.
Project: Design/Build Work at
CFB Valcartier
DCL’s experience with design/build contracting (in
which the design and construction is tendered in one
package to one firm), had not to this point been stellar.
In 1973, Joe Bland spoke at the Canadian Construction
Association Convention about the company’s first
experience, back in the 1950s:
Almost 20 years ago, the Navy asked Defence Construction
(1951) Limited to arrange a single contract for the
design and construction of a maintenance garage at
HMCS Shearwater at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Within
days of the handover of the completed structure to the
Navy, approximately one-third collapsed. Perhaps the
old adage “once burned, twice shy” applies, because it
was 15 years later, in 1969, before we ventured forth
and again employed the design/build concept.
The 1969 project to which he referred was one at CFB
Valcartier, which was undergoing a significant expansion
of its facilities. First up were $3 million vehicle storage
and maintenance facilities—large, simple buildings that
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DND announced in the summer of 1969 had to be
ready by the following summer. With no time for full
design before construction, DCL and DND agreed that
DCL would call for design/build proposals. The two lowest
bids were unsatisfactory, so a contract was awarded to
the third lowest bidder, and beneficial occupancy was
achieved in August 1970—one month after schedule.
A second, larger project for new accommodation also
used design/build, with completion in November 1971—
once again, later than the July date originally called for.
A third project didn’t fare even as well as that one. A
very low bid for six buildings proved a difficult challenge
to overcome: scheduled completion dates slipped by
amid extensive debate over the interpretation of
performance specifications. While DCL’s first experiences
with design/build could be called a mixed success, they
laid the groundwork for a procedure that would gain
increasing importance for defence construction projects
in Canada.
DCL wasn’t just experimenting with design/build
however—Lorne Atchison, President of DCC from 1985
to 1996, recalls an innovative indoor “balloon” idea:
BREAKING NEW GROUND
DEFENCE CONSTRUCTION CANADA