After years of renovation, the Government Conference Centre on Rideau St. was officially handed over to the Senate of Canada on Thursday.
The Senate will hold proceedings there while Centre Block undergoes a massive 10-year renovation.
However, the start of sittings and broadcasts of proceedings has been delayed so that a ceiling gap that created disruptive noise in the temporary chamber can be fixed.
“It’s just one of those things when you get to real life and you're running all the tests, this did not come out to the satisfaction of those that were testing and it wasn't Senators who were testing it was our own people,” said Sen. Scott Tannas of Alberta.
The temporary chamber is located almost in the same spot where trains would arrive when the building was the old train station.
“This building was not in good shape, a lot of structural work had to be done,” said Martin Davidson with Diamond Schmitt Architects. “And yet at the same time we’re trying to do that within the context of restoring this building and bringing back the original clarity and organization the building had at the time it was a train station.”
More work still needs to be done to get the temporary chamber ready for Senators to move in—including replacing the plywood desks with the actual heritage desks that will be brought over from Parliament Hill.
Sittings are expected to resume on Feb. 19, 2019.
The cost of the renovation is approximately $215 million.
