Now it’s on to Phase 1, to be tendered in January, with work happening throughout 2017.
The investigation phase was all about understanding the condition of this heritage building, so a consultant and some local contractors opened up interior and exterior walls and parts of the ceiling and sampled various materials. Combining that knowledge with previous reports, the biggest issue they found was the condition of the exterior walls.
“It’s something we feel that’s in need of a significant conservation,” said Tim Chandler, project manager with Public Service and Procurement Canada.
Now it’s on to Phase 1, to be tendered in January, with work happening throughout 2017.
The investigation phase was all about understanding the condition of this heritage building, so a consultant and some local contractors opened up interior and exterior walls and parts of the ceiling and sampled various materials. Combining that knowledge with previous reports, the biggest issue they found was the condition of the exterior walls.
“It’s something we feel that’s in need of a significant conservation,” said Tim Chandler, project manager with Public Service and Procurement Canada.
Initial work in phase 1 includes removing the interior finishes, removing some of the mechanical and electrical systems and constructing a steel scaffolding exoskeleton around the building.
This exoskeleton will help facilitate further investigations and help to prepare for the second phase – roughly a year in the future - when stones on the exterior and the entire exterior wall assembly will be dismantled and rebuilt.
“There will be very few changes, if any, to the exterior of the building,” said Chandler. “We are aiming to protect the character-defining elements of the building. The exterior is an important part of that.”
Greg Shaw, project leader with P.E.I. National Park, said those elements are what make Province House the special place that it is.
“That means we are going to put more effort into that than we are into some of the areas, which may not have that character-defining element.”
An example would be changing the interior north and south walls from stone to brick.
“The interior stone is not a character-defining element of the building, said Shaw. “It’s going to be covered with plaster at the end of the day so people don’t see that.”
Shaw said the exoskeleton may take some getting used to as the steel structure protrudes approximately 25 feet out from Province House. The height of the building and covered in a tarp, it has a number of functions, including enabling workers to access the areas of the building that need work and supporting the building during the dismantling of the exterior walls.
“It’s going to be a very large footprint on the site,” said Shaw. “It’s going to restrict people from walking around the building.”
As with any unique heritage building, there have been challenges.
Chandler said doing the full dismantling and rebuilding wasn’t something they had planned or anticipated.
“We discovered that was the best way to conserve those character-defining elements and protect them into the future.”
They were, however, excited to find iron beams in the building. This wasn’t uncovered in any previous reports and they plan on leaving those structures in place.
“It is one of the first uses of that type of construction technology as we understand in North America so it’s unique that we found it here and I expect we will have some other discoveries as we continue through the project.”
Shaw said despite the condition of the exterior wall, they are working within their budget of $41.05 million.
“We still don’t have the true extent of work defined. Until we really get in there, it’s tough to say what final price tag is going to be. Right now, we are hoping that we certainly going to be within that budget.”
They expect renovations to be completed by March 2020.
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