Stone by stone, brick by brick, the Defence Construction Canada team in Kingston has completed one of the most challenging puzzles they’ve faced: the disassembly, repair and reconstruction of the Kingston Armoury.
“We don’t often look back and …celebrate what we’ve achieved,” said Dave Long, DCC Team Leader, Construction Services in Kingston. “It is a great accomplishment.”
The repair work on one of the historic stone buildings housed in the downtown of Canada’s ‘City of Limestone’ required meticulous attention. Work to repair and restore the storm drainage, roof, windows/doors, electrical and waterproofing of its foundation, started on the building in 2019. But to get to those parts of the building that needed repair and upgrades, extensive work was required to the beautiful stonework the building is well known for.
To protect the building’s historical exterior, each stone had to be catalogued, scanned and recorded as it was pulled away. When repairs to stone were needed, representatives would visit a quarry, select a block that could match, give direction on how/where to cut it—and then specialist stone masons would work to ensure as close a match as possible to the exterior.
“You can’t manufacture this stone—literally for our project they were pulling it out of the ground,” said Dan Heslinga, who started the project as team lead.
It was painstakingly detailed work—and as a result, the success of the project relied on the team working together to find solutions. Particularly key was the good relationship with the contractor and DND project manager Linda Lausch whose expertise, commitment and collaborative approach helped to ensure the project’s success, said DCC Coordinator, Construction Services Cameron Johnston.
The roughly $5‑million, two-year renovation was completed in mid-December.
