Work to continue on Sudbury's Place des Arts, even with latest lockdown orders

A provincial order to shut down non-essential construction sites won't affect a major project in downtown Sudbury.

Work on Place des Arts — a cultural centre that will house seven organizations promoting francophone culture and to be used by the entire community — will continue.

Executive Director Leo Therrien says lawyers advised that construction may continue, in part because it will house a daycare, which is an essential service.

Therrien says the first shutdown caused a delay, and it's been difficult to get some materials./

"Specifically some materials come from the States and we know the situation in the States is even worse than it is in Canada," he told Morning North CBC host Markus Schwabe.

"Manufacturing has slowed down and some have stopped. This has affected the supply of some material so sometimes that pushes work on weekends."

Place des Arts was supposed to open last December, but the new date for opening will be this fall.

They've been waiting 10 years to bring this project to life, Therrien says.

"Everyone's anxious to see the place and to move in and to use the performance venues and to get back to normal life. So we hope that, once it's ready for the post-Covid era, we can go back to seeing performances live, in public, or on-line if we have to."

He says they're still mainly staying within the $30 million budget, even though they've incurred extra costs for security and materials storage.