Pomerleau wins $42 million contract to build Parks Canada artifact storage facility

Exterior design of Parks Canada’s new purpose-built collection storage facility.
© Moriyama and Teshima Architects and NFOE Architects, a joint-architectural venture. Image Credit: CNW Group/Parks Canada

Quebec-based contractor Pomerleau Inc. has been awarded a $42-million contract to build a new home for roughly 25 million historical artifacts collected across Canada.

Parks Canada awarded the firm the contract to build the approximately 88,000-square-foot  (8,200 square-metre) storage facility in Gatineau, Que., that will house items such as furniture, textiles, Indigenous hunting tools, household goods, ceramic fragments, and many other historical artifacts.

“This new purpose-built facility, located in the city of Gatineau, will provide the necessary storage and environmental conditions for these important pieces of Canada’s shared history,” said Steven MacKinnon MP for Gatineau and parliamentary secretary the minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility, in a release. “In addition, the facility will serve as a model building, by adopting sustainable and energy-efficient green building standards, and will achieve zero carbon emissions through the use of renewable energy.”

Ottawa-based Moriyama and Teshima Architects, along with Montreal’s NFOE Architects, took on the design for the new building. It will feature rigorous temperature controls with HVAC systems tied to emergency generators, double-wall construction for additional insulation, and a storage system to facilitate simple access and retrieval.

Construction is expected to get underway shortly, with crews scheduled to complete the project by 2023.