Jim Flaherty building takes up position in nation’s capital

A new Government of Canada building at 90 Elgin Street in Ottawa has been renamed after late federal finance minister, Jim Flaherty. Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the naming on October 15, with Mr. Flaherty’s widow Christine Elliott and their three sons in attendance.

Flaherty served as finance minister from 2006 until his resignation in March 2014, a month before he died. The Prime Minister praised him as exemplifying “the best qualities of those who enter public life,” noting that he “played an integral role in steering Canada through the highly turbulent international financial crisis which began in 2008.”

Located near Confederation Square close to the War Monument, the Chateau Laurier Hotel and National Arts Centre, the James Michael Flaherty Building has an eight storey pavilion facing Elgin Street, connected to a 17-storey tower behind. It replaces the eight-storey Lorne Building which was demolished.

At 600,000 square feet, the new $200-million building was completed this year and is already partially occupied, with space for 2,600 federal employees from the Department of Finance and Treasury Board Secretariat. It incorporates limestone and other natural materials and is designed for LEED Gold environmental certification, with features such as green roofs and a green wall.

The design team was led by DIALOG-McRobie architects, with Adjeleian Allen Rubeli as structural engineers, Goodkey Weedmark & Associates as mechanical and electrical engineers, R.V. Anderson & Associates as civil engineers, Morrison Hershfield as LEED consultant, and J.B. Lennox & Associates as landscape architects. Ron Engineering & Construction was the design-builder, and GWL Realty are the development managers.