Reconstruction of the Grande Allée Armoury in Québec

The Grande Allée Armoury in Québec, home to the oldest French-Canadian regiment still in existence, was damaged by fire in April 2008. One of the Government of Canada’s first actions was to clean up the site and undertake the initial work to preserve the remaining structure. In the meantime, the Voltigeurs have been moved to a new site for a 10-year period.

In 2009 and 2010, Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) carried out a series of activities to come up with a plan for the future of the Armoury: public consultations, a feasibility and profitability analysis, a variety of historical, archaeological and environmental analyses, and studies and post-disaster structural evaluations. 

PWGSC then carried out a program for the allocation of functional and technical space, additional consultations with Québec organizations and major rehabilitation work to clean up the interior of the building in order to preserve and maintain it and to ensure the safety of workers on the reconstruction worksite. This involved an assessment of the masonry, in-depth cleaning, the structural reinforcement of the building and the installation of semi-permanent heating and ventilation systems. A call for tenders launched in October 2010 resulted in a contract being awarded to the architectural consortium Arcop, D.F.S. Inc., architecture & design, Saint-Gelais Montminy et associés to prepare the architectural designs and sketches for reconstruction of the Armoury.

Federal government environmental and architectural heritage experts have conducted surveys and drawn up plans and specifications for the work associated with components to be preserved or restored. Some of the components have been sorted and stored on site, outside the buildings.

The reconstruction of the Grande Allée Armoury represents an investment of approximately $104M under Canada’s Economic Action Plan, notably $93M expected for the reconstruction and $11.3M invested towards consultations, the development of a plan for the future of the Armoury, a feasibility and cost-effectiveness analysis, the development of the concepts, as well as work towards the rehabilitation and preparation of the site.

In November 2012, the federal government presented the successful design for reconstruction of the Armoury. PWGSC will be the prime contractor for the reconstruction, rehabilitation and restoration.