Government adds another $14.1M to Province House restoration

The Government of Canada has added another $14.1 million to the cost of renovating P.E.I.'s Province House, bringing the total to $61 million, but the cost could go up further.

The project has entered the critical stage two phase, where the actual walls of the historic building will be repaired.

Province House was built in 1847. It has triple layered exterior walls, with an interior wall of P.E.I. sandstone and an exterior wall of Pictou, N.S. sandstone. The stones are held together by mortar, with rubble infill between the inner and outer wall layers.

But according to an architect's report, a re-roofing project in 1980 has allowed water to seep between the walls for decades, leading to rot that could have ended in a catastrophic collapse, unless repairs were done.

The building has been closed since January 2015. Phase one of the repair is now complete, with an exoskeleton around the building to support the walls. It was originally thought all the exterior walls would have to be taken apart and reconstructed, but further investigations have found that some repairs can be done without taking the walls apart completely. 

As phase two progresses, the government will reassess to see if more money is required to complete the project.

Parks Canada is aiming to have the building done in December of 2021, said Greg Shaw, the project manager for Parks Canada.

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