One of the largest enclosed buildings on North America’s west coast, the 35,000-m2 Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) Fleet Maintenance Facility (FMF) Cape Breton, at CFB Esquimalt, is nearing the finish line. Once the final phase is complete in 2019, the Pacific FMF will handle every aspect of maritime maintenance – including fabrication, maintenance and repair, all to keep the Navy's west coast fleet operational.
DCC staff at CFB Esquimalt have been intimately involved with the project since day one, collaborating with the RCN, DND and industry stakeholders, and transforming the facility from 60-plus antiquated buildings spread across the dockyard, to a fully operational, state-of-the-art maritime maintenance facility. Everything from planning, contracting and project management to environmental and archaeological mediation and consultations with Indigenous peoples, has been coordinated by DCC personnel.
The modernization has unfolded in five phases dating back to 1996, when Maritime Forces Pacific closed three separate fleet engineering and maintenance units to start the project.
“This speaks to one of our core values of collaboration,” says DCC Team Leader, Construction Services, Eric Service. “We’re a family out here so we all work together to get this done.”
DCC project team lead, Brad Trann says the FMF CB has been the highlight of his career.
“It’s bittersweet,” says Brad. “It’s the kind of project you will never work on again in your life. The complexity, the size– never." "It’s definitely a feather in your cap,” says Eric. “New construction, de-construction and everything in between – fit-ups, renovations, site remediation, you name it, this project has seen it all, and I am proud to be part of it.”