After more than a year of construction, the rehabilitated Apron B at 15 Wing Moose Jaw has officially re-opened—an important step toward ensuring the safety of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) fleet and training the next generation of pilots.
Rehabilitating the apron meant rebuilding and resurfacing 19,000 m² of concrete, installing new signage and lighting, and upgrading the drainage and electrical systems.
According to Bob Craig, DCC Team Leader, Construction Services, the Wing’s old apron was badly in need of repair. “The existing concrete pavement apron was starting to fail,” he explains. “This was creating real safety concerns for the aircraft.”
“The upgrades were also the first of several planned for the next few years to help the Wing modernize flight training under the RCAF’s new Future Aircrew Training program,” explains Colton Gingras, Coordinator, Construction Services, who led DCC’s efforts.
DCC provided crucial coordination throughout the project. In addition to making sure normal flying operations continued while the upgrades were carried out, the team had to contend with challenges ranging from extreme weather to having to source a new supply of aggregate midway through construction.
At $10.2 million, “this was the largest project the DCC team at 15 Wing Moose Jaw ever carried out,” says Colton. “It was challenging but also exciting. Coordination between all the stakeholders was crucial to its success.”