Military troops in western Canada will no longer be led from an elementary school now that the federal government has chipped in cash for a new building at the Edmonton Garrison.
Federal defence minister Peter MacKay dropped by CFB Edmonton last Friday to announce a new $54 million building for three units on the base. The building, dubbed the Land Force Western Area Headquarters, will serve as the headquarters for the Land Force Western Area, Joint Task Force West, and the 1 Area Support Group units once complete.
"I am excited to announce a new area headquarters which will play a vital role in the command of Canadian Forces operations here in Edmonton," MacKay said in a news release, adding that the building will make these units more efficient by putting them under a common roof.
It will also create about 161 jobs.
It'll be a big step up from their current headquarters, an old elementary school in the Griesbach neighbourhood where 30 per cent of the army and all the domestic operations in Western Canada are currently being run out of, says Col. Dave Anderson of Land Force Western Area.
Old digs, new digs
Land Force Western Area oversees all troops in Western Canada and is based in the same school as the Joint Task Force, which provides military support to local governments during emergencies. They are the last two units still based at the old Griesbach barracks.
1 Area Support Group, which manages the army's lands and bases, is currently squeezed into the central headquarters building at CFB Edmonton.
The school, currently on lease from the Canada Lands Company, was originally built in 1951and is about 12 kilometres from the garrison.
"It was designed specifically to be an elementary school," Anderson said, and was not meant to hold 160 soldiers and sensitive communications equipment. "Our joint operations centre is in what used to be the gym. The commander's conference room is in what used to be the kindergarten classroom."
The site has no room for expansion, he continued and many of the troops are already housed in trailers out back.
The new building has been in the works since about 2001, Anderson said, and was approved last fall. Crews finished the concrete superstructure this week.
The 8,159-square-metre building will be wheelchair-accessible, about 30 per cent more energy efficient than average, and built to "disaster-zone" standards, Anderson says, meaning it can survive most natural disasters. It will also help put all of the garrison's units in one place, making it much easier for them to work together.
The new building should be ready by November 2013, Anderson said, and will be located next to the 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade headquarters. The troops are looking forward to its completion, he said. "If you have to go to work every day into a building, it's nice if it's designed for what you're doing."
