Provincial Building to Receive Facelift

TRANSPORTATION/PUBLIC WORKS--Provincial Building to Receive Facelift

Beginning Monday, Feb. 24, the sandstone on the Provincial Building at 1723 Hollis St., will be getting some TLC.

Stonemasons will be repairing the exterior wall facing the Hollis Street side of the building and one half of the north side wall that faces the courtyard of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.

This $1.2 million-contract is the second and final phase of a $2.48-million project. The first phase involved restoring the east side of the building facing Bedford Row and the other half of the north side facing the Art Gallery courtyard.

"The project will preserve the beauty and history of Nova Scotia's architecture so that it can be enjoyed by generations to come, as well as ensure public safety," said Michael Baker, Minister of Transportation and Public Works.

Renovations will also include repairs to the copper roofing on the building's cornice moulding and the installation of a heat tracing system to prevent ice from forming on the cornice. This safety measure will protect pedestrians from being hit by falling ice.

Tenants will occupy the building while the work is being completed. The sidewalk in front of the building on Hollis Street is expected to be closed Feb. 24-27 while crews erect scaffolding. Otherwise, there will continue to be pedestrian access on the sidewalk with minor interruptions.

The building is occupied by the Nova Scotia Department of Finance, Communications Nova Scotia and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. The section of the building now known as the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia was built in the mid-1860s. At one time, part of that building was used as a post office.

The building is constructed of sandstone from Wallace, N.S., the same stone used at Province House. The replacement stone will come from the original Wallace quarry.

The restoration project allows Nova Scotia companies to continue using the masonry restoration skills they have acquired over the past 20 years. This project has been tendered to Masontech Inc.

"Projects like the Provincial Building continue to utilize the traditional skills of the restoration stonemasons in our province," said Mike Welling, contracts' manager of Masontech Inc. "Jobs like this one and the one at Province House helped to launch apprenticeship training in the early 1990s for restoration stonemasons in Nova Scotia."

J.W. Cowie Engineering is the restoration consultant. Renovations are expected to be completed in the fall of 2003.