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Rose Michaud
76 million dollars. (which means $150 million) and then they still own the old Justice building.
Rose Michaud
@Rose Michaud I'm not
necessarily against the project, but I'd love for them to be honest for
once. This will be a $200 million dollar project by the time they are
done. $150 million for the centennial building (they say $76 million)
and then $50 million to fix the old Justice building (and trust me,
they'll say $25 million).
David Raymond Amos
@Rose Michaud I don't see
anything wrong with the Centennial building anyway. To me it looks like
just another make work job for their buddies
Rose Michaud
@David Raymond Amos "Seeing"
and knowing all the issues that building has are two different things!
Air tight since 1967! (among numerous other critical deficiencies)
David Raymond Amos
@Rose Michaud My Father
worked there beginning in 1967 Tell me what you know and I will tell who
what I know about the ghosts that roam the halls.
David Raymond Amos
@Rose Michaud BTW the old
Justice building is where a couple of current Judges in the Court of the
Queen's Bench and I a started High School in 1967. I bet they still
feel at home there today. That old building is also where my Father and
and my Mother's second husband went to study to become teachers before
WW II called them away.
New Fredericton courthouse will be built attached to old Centennial Building
Province will spend $76M on renovating Centennial Building in downtown Fredericton and adding new courthouse
By Jacques Poitras, CBC News
Posted: Jan 11, 2017 9:58 AM AT
The Centennial Building in Fredericton will lose this wing
in a renovation project that will give the Court of Queen's Bench,
Court of Appeal and provincial court five storeys of their own. (Jacques
Poitras/CBC)
The Gallant government will spend $76 million to renovate the landmark Centennial Building in downtown Fredericton, including the addition of a new courthouse.
The province will demolish the back wing of the building, pointing toward Brunswick Street, where a new five-storey courthouse will be attached to the remaining wings of Centennial.
It will house the provincial court rooms, Court of Queen's Bench and New Brunswick Court of Appeal, all of which are now in the aging Justice Building on Queen Street.
Premier Brian Gallant and Fredericton Mayor
Mike O'Brien, right, show off sketches for the planned renovation of the
Centennial Building.
Premier Brian Gallant told reporters the province was facing two decisions: whether to demolish Centennial and whether to replace the courthouse.
"These decisions came to us, on our plate, at the same time, so we looked for the most efficient to try to deal with both situations," he said. "We think this is a positive solution to both those challenges."
The project is expected to be finished in 2021. Gallant said it's expected to create the equivalent of 800 jobs during construction.
Fredericton's justice building is currently located on Queen Street. (CBC)
He said the current building doesn't have enough space for simultaneous translation in Court of Appeal hearings, doesn't have enough Court of Queen's Bench courtrooms, and relegates provincial court to the basement, where there are no windows.
"I've been chief justice for 14 years, I've seen four premiers during that time, and I've argued with them for a new courthouse since my appointment," he said.
A $76 million renovation of the Centennial
Building will include the addition of a five-storey courthouse. (Jacques
Poitras, CBC)
The court building will share some facilities with Centennial but will have separate security features have become standard in other courts in New Brunswick.
The large black 22,300-square-metre Centennial Building opened in 1967 and was designed to hold all government offices that existed at the time.
But the building has reached the end of its natural lifespan, with electrical and ventilation systems becoming more expensive to maintain.
In 2013, the provincial government moved many Centennial Building offices into the new Chancery Place building across the street.
A view of the construction site that became the Centennial Building in the 1960s. (Provincial Archives of New Brunswick)
Officials said Wednesday all government offices have now moved, and the last occupant, a community health centre, will relocate within the next three weeks.
When the two refurbished wings of Centennial reopen in 2021, government offices now in other buildings will move there. Those remaining wings have 10,200 square metres of space.
That will include some departments now using private, leased office space around Fredericton, creating a potential cost-saving for the province.
Six murals created in 1967 for the lobbies on the six floors of the Centennial Building will be preserved as part of the refurbishment.
Auditor General Kim MacPherson criticized the
government in 2015 for not making a decision quickly on whether to
refurbish or demolish the Centennial Building. (CBC)
Fredericton architect and author John Leroux, who has written a book about the murals, called them "really a cultural gem. … It's good that they realized the importance of these. It's part of the whole package."
The Centennial Building's design is often mocked, but it is "without question one of the most important 20th-century buildings in New Brunswick," Leroux said. "It's hard for a lot of people to see that, but it is. And now it's going to be one of the most important 21st-century buildings."
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