While the idea of Garrison Wainwright's new community centre took root some time ago, the project team and community is now seeing it sprout, thanks in part to the planning and coordination work by the DCC team at Wainwright.
"It's amazing to see it get off the ground," said Renée Nadon, DCC Technical Specialist, Project Management at Wainwright.
The 1,700‑m2 centre was originally designed in 2007, and when the opportunity for funding arose in 2018, the DCC team jumped to make sure it was ready to go. This included updating the design to meet today's standards and today's uses within the existing footprint.
"We really had to work within the inches of this design," said Nadon about the updates the team were able to achieve in time to facilitate the project's progress.
Once approved, remediation was required on site before construction could begin. The DCC team along with DND and the contractor were able to navigate that—as well as the challenge of the COVID-19 outbreak hitting amidst the early construction schedule—and the community centre is now on its way and expected to be complete on time.
"When this building started to go up there was a lot of anticipation and excitement," said Nadon.
Nadon says the centre will make a big difference to the small community—offering a significant upgrade that benefits not just Canadian Armed Forces members, but also their families. It replaces an old school built in the 1950s and a series of mobile units to create one facility that will house the Military Family Resource Centre, a daycare, French services, adult programming and more.
Construction began in July 2019 and is expected to be complete summer 2021.