EllisDon Corp. has received a $22.9-million contract to build two new housing units at Springhill Institution, a medium-security federal penitentiary in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
HALIFAX
EllisDon Corp. will soon help Springhill Institution add space for almost 200 more inmates, increasing the prison’s capacity by 50 per cent.
The general contractor, which has a regional office in Halifax, has received a $22.9-million contract to build two new housing units at the medium-security federal penitentiary.
The project is expected to create room for an additional 192 inmates at the prison, which can now hold about 400 inmates.
“It’s an important contract to us,” said Brian Strecko, Atlantic Canada vice-president and area manager for EllisDon.
“We wrapped up a lot of our backlog work in 2010 and have a number of our project teams on the bench. With the acquisition of this project, it allows us to redeploy one of our teams.”
EllisDon was involved in several major construction projects in Nova Scotia that wrapped up last year, including the Canada Games Centre in the Clayton Park area of Halifax and the Windsor Elms Village long-term care facility in Falmouth, Hants County.
The company is now working on a new library in downtown Halifax and the Colchester Regional Hospital.
The Springhill project includes construction of a two-storey, 70,000 square-foot building. The structure will be divided into two 96-bed units.
The work includes providing security fencing and a service road, as well as landscaping and the tying-in of existing building services such as water, electricity and security systems.
The contract is worth $22,980,450.
Strecko said work will begin at the site by the end of this month or in early August, with the project expected to take about 18 months.
He said the project will create 120 to 150 construction jobs at its peak. Workers from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, including the Springhill area, will be needed for the job, he said.
A team of four or five people from EllisDon will oversee the project.
A spokeswoman for Springhill Institution said the prison will need more correctional officers and support and clerical staff, but she couldn’t say how many.
“We’re going to have to start looking at programming needs and increasing program space,” Shannon Oickle said.
The new housing units are part of a $40-million expansion plan for Springhill Institution announced last August by the federal government.
Canadian Press
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