Our Projects Through the Decades

  • 2020s

    2020—Defence Research and Development Canada Complex, Valcartier, Quebec

    DCC awarded the contract for Phase 1 of the renewed research infrastructure for DRDC in Valcartier. The $144-million contract will help the region’s scientific community strengthen defence capabilities.


    2020—Future Fighter Capability Project, Cold Lake, Alberta and Bagotville, Quebec

    DCC awards the contracts to build two super hangars at 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alberta, and 3 Wing Bagotville, Quebec. The $525-million contracts include operational headquarters for the squadrons that will fly the jets, as well as state-of-the-art security, IT and maintenance and training facilities to house the 88 new jets.

  • 2010s

    2019—Explosive Ordnance Disposal Training Facility, CFB Gagetown

    DCC helps DND take a big step forward in energy efficiency and sustainability, with its first “net-zero ready” building. The 3,389-m2, $15.7-million facility runs almost completely off the grid. The EOD building is recognized by the Real Property Institute of Canada with an award for Best Practices–Environmental Sustainability.


    2019 – Royal Canadian Dragoons

    DCC, DND and contractors sign the first Government of Canada construction project using the integrated project delivery (IPD) method. The $80.6-million project involves building several single-storey buildings to be used for materiel storage, and vehicle storage and maintenance, as well as offices for the Royal Canadian Dragoons, an armoured reconnaissance regiment at CFB Petawawa, Ontario.


    2017—Northern Facilities, Inuvik, NWT; Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit, Nunavut

    DCC opens an office in Yellowknife, NWT to manage a five-year facilities maintenance and support services contract covering 80 buildings in forward-operating locations and communities.


    2017 – Energy Performance Contracts

    DCC begins putting energy performance contracts in place on behalf of DND. These innovative financing vehicles use the cost savings that will be realized from energy-efficiency projects to fund those projects.


    2017 – A/B Jetty Recapitalization Project, CFB Esquimalt

    DCC awards a $55.5-million contract for phase 2 of the A/B Jetty Recapitalization project to replace aging 70-year-old jetties. The multi-year project involves extending the utility corridor, dredging the seabed, demolishing B Jetty, preparing the site, and building a new seawall. The project is expected to be completed by 2024, providing a new B Jetty and having demolished and replaced A Jetty, at a cost in the order of $781 million.


    2016—Shared Services Enterprise Data Centre, CFB Borden

    DCC’s second P3 procurement is for the $330-million contract for the expansion of Shared Services Canada’s enterprise data centre. As part of a consortium, DCC will support the design, building, financing, operations and maintenance of the data centre for 25 years.


    2014 – Nanisivik Naval Facility

    Site preparation work begins for the construction of the Nanisivik Naval Facility, located in Nunavut along the north shore of Baffin Island. DCC is contracting for and managing the construction of the $56-million facility that will serve as a docking and refueling station for military, civilian and Government of Canada vessels during the Northern shipping season.


    2011 – Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC)

    DCC awards the largest public-private partnership contract in Canadian government history — an $880 million, five-year capital project to build a Long-Term Accommodation Project for CSEC, Canada’s national cryptologic agency. It is a new, purpose-built facility with combined office and special-purpose-space of more than 72,000 square metres.


    2010 – 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Vancouver

    DCC supports the Canadian Forces’ security support to the Games by providing a turnkey contracted solution for six temporary accommodation facilities (TAFs) to be located strategically throughout the area between North Vancouver and Pemberton (north of Whistler) from November 2009 to April 2010. The $40 million project provides a mix of 200- to 400-person TAFs to house 1,800 CF personnel. DCC manages the planning and implementation including site preparation and maintenance, food services, snow cleaning, garbage removal, recycling and demobilization after the event.


    2010 – Consolidation Project, CFS St. John’s

    DCC awards a $117-million contract for the consolidation of DND facilities at CFB St.John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. The contract involves demolition, site remediation and new construction for more than 700 station personnel. The new four-storey, 28,000-square-metre facility houses vehicle maintenance garages, warehouse space, a mess hall and offices constructed to a LEED silver standard.

  • 2000s

    2009 – Fleet Maintenance Facility, CFB Esquimalt

    Responsible for the repair and overhaul of ships and auxiliary vessels, DCC’s procurement for the Fleet Maintenance Facility (FMF) Cape Breton Shop at CFB Esquimalt is a massive $250 million overhaul. The multi-phase project will transform the FMF’s 38 maintenance shops into one of the largest enclosed buildings on the West coast.


    2008 – Operation Tropical Hammer

    DCC deploys staff to Jamaica to help Canadian and Jamaican Military Engineers and local contractors build classrooms, workshops and accommodations for the Caribbean country’s Defence Force.


    2007 – Maritime Helicopter Support Facilities, 12 Wing Shearwater

    DCC awards a $99 million contract for the construction of three in-service Maritime Helicopter support facilities at 12 Wing Shearwater in Nova Scotia. The project includes renovating and upgrading infrastructure to accommodate the CF’s new CH-148 Cyclone helicopters.


    2005 – Hangar 1 at 19 Wing Comox

    Due to its age and condition, 1 Hangar at 19 Wing Comox is slated for decommissioning. However, because of its construction materials and history during World War II, it is considered a historical resource and an ideal candidate for green demolition involving reuse or recycle of all materials. DCC is responsible for managing the construction site and arranging for the demolition contract. The hangar’s 500-year-old Douglas fir timber is sold and re-used in developments in Vancouver, Victoria and Coquitlam, B.C. About 400,000 board feet of lumber is salvaged and is the largest recycling project in B.C. in late 2005.


    2003 – The Citadel

    DCC helps to restore the Citadel in Quebec City by providing support for consultation, procurement and project management for this project. The $20 million restoration project involves dismantling stone walls, excavating, installing a drainage system, rebuilding and returning the facility to its original condition.


    2003 – DCC in Afghanistan

    DCC begins providing support for DND in Afghanistan. Staff are deployed to Camp Julien in Kabul to establish a contracting and contract management framework for DCC support to the mission. In 2006, the Canadian Forces moved to the more volatile Kandahar Province. So did DCC staff, providing significant contracting, contract and project management services at both Kandahar Airfield and Camp Nathan Smith. DCC remained in Kandahar until the close of Canadian combat operations in 2011.

  • 1990s

    1996 – DEW Line Cleanup

    Although the official closure of the DEW Line was in 1993, its sites and their hazards remained. After years of investigations and consultation, a protocol is drafted regarding the specific environmental concerns. DCC takes on the full project and environmental management function to meet DND requirements.


    1996 – Canadian Forces Housing Agency (CFHA)

    The Canadian Forces Housing Agency (CFHA) is established on April 1, 1996, to place all PMQs under a single Agency that would make the PMQs self sustaining. DCC positions itself to assist CFHA with contract and project management expertise.


    1991 – Reserve Force Facilities

    DCC becomes involved in modernizing Reserve Force Facilities across Canada. Contracts are awarded for the renovations of the Military Stores Building at Cartier Square in Ottawa, a new armoury in Bathurst, N.B., a number of armouries in Quebec, and a new armoury in Halton Hills, Ontario.


    1991 – Withdrawal from Europe

    The federal government announces its withdrawal of the Canadian Forces from Europe, as there is no longer a need to view Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union as potential threats. Canadian military bases are closed, and Defence Construction Canada’s (DCC) presence in Europe follows suit. During the transition, DCC’s European Branch works to preserve buildings to return the facilities to its host nation. It also undertakes a complete review of the facilities and improvements costing in excess of $350 million.


    1990 – Pinetree Line Phase-out and Cleanup

    The network of radar stations is closed and removed in the 1980s; however, the land and accommodation facilities are being sold off. Defence Construction, involved in the creation of the Line, is now helping to close it down and clean up what remains.

  • 1980s

    1988 – Gagetown Combat Training Centre

    Defence Construction awards a consultant contract for the final design of the Combat Training Centre in Gagetown – a facility for Mobile Command to train infantry, field artillery and armoured officers, consolidating schools in one central location. The $56 million project begins in 1988 and is completed and handed over to the Army in 1992.


    1988 – German Air Force Hangar in Goose Bay

    Goose Bay becomes an increasingly important NATO training base. Germany and Canada sign an agreement to begin low-level flying training from the base and as the training flights increase, so does the need for additional support facilities. Contracts totaling $31 million are awarded during the late 1980s to cover the three phases of construction.


    1985 – North American Air Defence Modernization (NAADM) and the North Warning System

    The $1.5 billion NAADM project would guard against long-range, low-flying cruise missiles and would include 11 manned Long Range Radar sites and 36 unmanned Automated Short Range Radar sites to be built in Canada. The first major contract is awarded with construction to begin the following fiscal year with the award of $98 million of contracts for long range radars at Cartwright and Saglek on the Labrador coast and at Brevoort Island in the Eastern Arctic. The following year DCC awards contracts for engineering and construction services worth more than $400 million for the 36 short range radar sites to be built in the Arctic.


    1982 – The Hornet Programme

    The purchase of the CF-18 Hornet as Canada’s new fighter aircraft to carry out sovereignty and air defence missions in Canada and in Europe results in contracts for the design of a number of buildings, including the Multi-Use Maintenance Facility and the Flight Simulator Building at Bagotville and Cold Lake. In Europe, CF-18 project work involves conversion projects, a simulator facility and an avionics facility. The CF-18 Alert Complex at Goose Bay completes the project in the late 1980s, with four single aircraft hangars, together with equipment storage and housing for maintenance personnel and pilots.


    1980s – Ship Repair Units

    Ship Repair Units (SRUs) are being built to provide for the repair, maintenance and overhaul of the Navy’s ships. Work begins with construction of the $93 million Jetty 2 at the Halifax dockyard. The SRU Atlantic building and Jetty 8 are completed in 1984 as well as projects such as the Maritime Command’s new $15 million headquarters building. Construction of the SRU for Canada’s Pacific coast follows with a 9,500-square-metre building for light and heavy shops, and relocation and demolition of older structures. In the late 1980s, construction begins with $49 million in awarded contracts for the SRU Pacific and its related jetties at Esquimalt.

  • 1970s

    1976 – The Aurora Program

    The need for a new long-range maritime patrol aircraft results in the acquisition of the Aurora aircraft. New facilities for the aircraft are needed on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. DCL’s Atlantic branch witnesses an unprecedented increase in workload during 1978 and 1979.


    1973 – Strategic Automated Message Switching Operational Network (SAMSON)

    Defence Construction is given responsibility for awarding contracts regarding the new strategic communications equipment including inspections and payments for SAMSON’s facilities in Penhold, Halifax, Borden, Carp and CFB Lahr. Contracts worth almost $2 million are awarded in 1974-75 for building modifications.


    1970s – St. Jean Megaplex

    The megacomplex in St. Jean, Quebec (known as the megaplex) is one of DCL’s largest projects in the 1970s with a budget of $88 million. It varies in height from five to 12 floors and stretches for 1,400 feet including accommodation, classrooms, dining facilities and physical training facilities.


    1970s – BATUS and GATES

    Defence Construction grows partially as a result of Canada’s NATO commitments at home. Construction of training facilities for British and German forces include $8.2 million contracts awarded to build base and training facilities for the British Army Training Unit at Suffield (BATUS) and $3.1 million for facilities for the German Army Training Unit at Shilo (GATES).

  • 1960s

    Late 1960s – Canadian Forces Supplementary Radio System (CFSRS)

    The CFSRS is intended to support signals intelligence activities and involves projects at Naval Radio Station Bermuda and at Masset, Gander and Leitrim. Work on the CFSRS provides some of the largest contracts awarded by DCL.


    1967 – Housing in Lahr, Germany

    The departure of all NATO forces from France, including the Royal Canadian Air Force’s move from France to Germany, requires the move of DCL’s European office from Paris to Lahr. One of the contracts awarded by DCL is for the rehabilitation of 996 PMQs at Lahr. Additional responsibilities are handed over to DCL at this time, as it takes over construction for the Canadian Army Brigade in Europe.


    1966 – Halifax Syncrolift

    Defence Construction tenders the $4.5 million contract for the construction of the new Syncrolift drydock in Halifax. It is a new method of drydocking ships, designed specifically to handle the new Royal Canadian Navy submarines.


    1963 – World’s Fair (Expo 67)

    Cabinet approves Defence Construction Limited (DCL) running the contracting system for Expo 67. DCL’s most substantial and long-term assistance involves handling the tender calls and the subsequent stages of contracts. Between 1963 and 1967, DCL coordinates 712 contracts for a total value of $140 million.


    1962 – The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE)

    The SAGE Control Centre is built underground at North Bay with the requirement to integrate all additional radar systems and computer technology with human operators to coordinate the high-speed continent-wide air battle that would happen in the case of a Soviet attack. RCAF Construction Engineers have overall project responsibility for the construction, with Defence Construction awarding and administering contracts.


    1961 – The Experimental Army Signals Establishment (EASE)

    Commonly known as the Diefenbunker, EASE is built in Carp, Ontario between 1959 and 1961 to shelter Canada’s leaders in the event of nuclear war. It is designed to resist a 5-megaton nuclear weapon detonating 1.1 miles away, resulting in a 100,000-square-foot, four-storey structure surrounded by a layer of gravel five feet thick. Operated by DND from 1959 to 1994, the Diefenbunker is opened to the public as a museum in 1998.

  • 1950s

    1956 – The Northern Ontario Pipeline

    The pipeline to export Alberta natural gas to eastern Canadian markets is considered a crucial supply line from the west to the east. Defence Construction signs two agreements with the Northern Ontario Pipeline Crown Corporation (NOPL): first for the provision of administrative and supervisory personnel; and second for construction and engineering services and administrative assistance. In October 1958 the pipeline is complete – overcoming the challenges of terrain, rock and muskeg.


    1954 – The Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line

    Canada and the United States agree to an experimental program that will ultimately become the DEW Line in the Canadian Arctic, roughly along the 70th parallel and stretching more than 8,046 kilometres, 5,944 of which are in Canada. The U.S. will pay for the line, but is required to use Canadian contractors and labour.


    1954 – The Mid-Canada Line

    By the end of 1954, Defence Construction is responsible for awarding the construction and some winter transportation contracts for the Mid-Canada Line—a radar network that would eventually become eight attended Section Control Stations spaced some 400 miles apart with 90 unattended Doppler Detection Stations spaced some 30 miles apart between them.


    1953 – The Accelerated Defence Programme

    Strengthening the Canadian Armed Forces is given a high priority in the early 1950s: some $200 to $300 million is designated for upgrading and expanding DND facilities. Defence Construction puts in place tenders and supervises the many Air Force and Army contracts based on plans and specifications for the work.


    1951 – The Pinetree Line

    Canada and the United States reach an agreement to establish the Pinetree Line of 33 radar stations roughly along the 50th parallel, just north of the Canadian-American border. Defence Construction’s role involves the procurement of Canadian construction contractors and suppliers – keeping both sovereignty and cost control.

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