Decade-long plan to modernize ‘key part’ of Parliamentary Precinct to start this fall, feds say

March 14, 2024

In an email to OBJ this week, PSPC called the Block 2 redevelopment project “a “key part” of the federal government’s efforts “to restore and modernize” the Parliamentary Precinct.

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The federal government plans to start work later this year on a project to restore and modernize a prominent collection of historic buildings near Parliament Hill. Public Services and Procurement Canada says construction work on the block facing Parliament Hill bounded by Wellington, Sparks, Metcalfe and O’Connor streets – known as “Block 2” – is expected to begin this fall. In an email to OBJ this week, PSPC called the Block 2 redevelopment project “a “key part” of the federal government’s efforts “to restore and modernize” the Parliamentary Precinct. “The project will transform a mix of aging buildings and vacant lots into an innovative complex to meet the needs of a modern Parliament today and into the future,” a department spokesperson said. The two-and-a-half-acre site includes 11 buildings – several of which are designated heritage buildings – as well as two parcels of vacant land. The feds say the redesigned buildings will provide space for the Senate, the House of Commons and the Library of Parliament and will also include renovated retail space on the Sparks Street Mall. The PSPC spokesperson said the department and its partners are still finalizing the project’s budget and scope, “as well as design, pre-construction and investigation activities, with construction work expected to start in fall of 2024.” The entire redevelopment is expected to take nearly a decade to complete. It’s the latest step in a process that began several years ago when PSPC invited architecture firms to enter a design competition for the project. The department said the work will include “a combination of new build components, restoration and refit while preserving the heritage character of the historic streets.” A total of 12 firms qualified to bid on the project, including several locally based companies. In May 2022, a joint bid from Toronto’s Zeidler Architecture and U.K. firm David Chipperfield Architects was named the winner of the competition. The firms were awarded an architectural and engineering contract for the project last May. In January, PSPC announced that Montreal-based construction firm Pomerleau would manage the first phase of the redevelopment. Two of the 11 buildings on the block will be dedicated to an Indigenous people’s space and are not part of the design competition. The nine buildings involved in the project are:

Union Bank Building, 128 Wellington St.
Victoria Building, 140 Wellington St.
Valour Building, 151 Sparks St.
Bank of Nova Scotia building, 125 Sparks St.
Fisher Building, 115 Sparks St.
Bate Building, 109 Sparks St.
Birks Building, 107 Sparks St.
Canada’s Four Corners building, 93 Sparks St.
Marshall Building, 14 Metcalfe St.

Downtown revitalization debate

The Block 2 redevelopment comes amid an ongoing debate over the future of two of the Parliamentary Precinct’s most prominent streets, Wellington and Sparks. Last April, the stretch of Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill reopened to vehicles after a 15-month closure that began in January 2022, when the area was overtaken by the Freedom Convoy protest. In advance of the opening, former procurement minister Helena Jaczek wrote to Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, encouraging the city to keep the street closed. The city rejected the request. Jaczek said the federal government wanted its jurisdiction to include both Wellington and Sparks streets as a way to address security issues and to create a vibrant public space. Such an ownership transfer, she wrote, would offer “a unique opportunity” to “reimagine this space as Canada’s preeminent civic forum.” Local business leaders, however, criticized the proposal as impractical. Sparks Street BIA executive director Kevin McHale, for example, told OBJ last April that turning the streets over to the feds would create a jurisdictional tug-of-war with the city and hamper efforts to revitalize the area. Longtime commercial real estate broker Darren Fleming agreed. “They’re not good stewards of real estate,” Fleming said of the federal government. “Most of the buildings are under-capitalized and in need of constant repair. I think giving (Wellington Street) over to them would be the worst.” Meanwhile, a report tabled at the city’s transportation committee earlier this year concluded that the permanent closure of Wellington Street would divert traffic to other nearby arterial roads, creating “notable impacts” for commuters and causing an “overall increase in driver stress.” Revitalizing Ottawa’s core, including the Parliamentary Precinct, has become a hot-button issue since the shift to remote work during the pandemic caused vacancy rates in many downtown office buildings to soar, resulting in a plunge in customer traffic for nearby merchants. A task force examining the issue released its report in January, with recommendations that included converting aging government-owned office buildings such as L’Esplanade Laurier into residential and commercial spaces. Meanwhile, the Ottawa Board of Trade is currently in the process of devising its own downtown action plan. The organization’s president and CEO, Sueling Ching, told OBJ last month the organization planned to release its report in March or April.