An addition will be added on to the building, which will create a new multipurpose room and new office spaces, as well as a meeting room that will double as an overflow room for housing animals.
This room will be designed with specialty flooring and ventilation by SableArc and Orange Door Engineering.
The expansion is thanks to an investment from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) of $250,000 as part of the Canada 150 community infrastructure fund.
“We have worked very hard and our goal is always to provide support to people and their four-legged companions in the community, but when that’s not possible, we have to have a facility that can house and care for properly up to 1,200 animals a year,” said Marla Somersall, executive director of the P.E.I. Humane Society.
“It’s a busy spot and we’re looking forward to having an addition to the building.”
This was one of five projects announced Wednesday by Charlottetown MP Sean Casey as recipients of ACOA community funding.
The other projects include:
- $79,439 to Capital Area Recreation Inc. (Bell Aliant Centre) to convert underused space to spectator viewing, create a multi-purpose programming space and to upgrade a narrow staircase to improve safety and traffic flow
- $29,325 to Holland College to renovate a garage on the corner of Kent and Cumberland Streets, which will serve as a rehearsal and performance area for the School of Performing Arts program
- $15,000 to Carrefour de l'Isle-Saint-Jean to reconfigure and renovate community space to increase functionality
- $8,500 to the Charlottetown Farmers’ Market Co-operative Association to replace indoor and outdoor lights with LED lighting to reduce energy consumption
In total, over $382,000 will be invested in these five projects, which will enable these local organizations to improve their offerings to the community.
Work on the P.E.I. Humane Society building, which received the bulk of the funding, will begin shortly and is scheduled to be completed by the end of October.
“The situation with care for animals is really changing throughout the country where animals are more stressed, more aggressive sometimes when they come into shelters so we have to re-think the way we’re working with those animals,” Somersall said.
