With demolition, primary excavation, and abatement phase complete, major restoration of the Parliament’s Centre Block is ready to begin rebuilding.
This is Canada’s largest heritage rehabilitation project and the first major renovation to Canada’s main parliament building since 1916, when a fire destroyed it.
The Centre Block project includes restoring the building’s stonework, wood, plaster, frescos, stained glass, marble and metalwork, replacing mechanical, electrical and fire safety systems,
installing new information technology, multimedia and security systems, making the building more environmentally sustainable and accessible, and restoring the Peace Tower.
The restoration team at PCL Construction used laser scan software to manipulate and viewpoint-cloud data at different stages.
A brand-new visitor centre will also be added. It will serve as the main public entrance to Parliament and have access to all three buildings on the hill. The centre will include an expanded security screening area.
Countless conservators carefully removed, restored, and reinstalled thousands of crates containing movable heritage assets. Each item is surveyed, scanned, and tracked to ensure it is returned to its original location.
Centre Block initially had no means of protection against earthquakes. However, in the future, more than 500 seismic base isolators in the foundation will isolate the building from the earth to mitigate any seismic event.
The renovation began in 2018 and is expected to complete near 2031.
