40 BUSINESS ELITE CANADA | MARCH 2019
WEST BLOCK FACTS
ORIGINAL HERITAGE BUILDING
• Constructed in phases between 1859 and 1909
• Originally named the Western Departmental Building and
housed the Postmaster of Canada and Ministry of Public Works.
• Building Area: 12,930m²
• Building height: 26 metres; 81 metres with the Mackenzie Tower
RESTORATION PROJECT
Cost: $862.9 M | Construction: 2011-2018
• The largest heritage masonry restoration project ever
undertaken in Canada
• Over 6,000,000 person hours of employment
• About 5,000 jobs created or sustained.
• Average of 500 workers on site each day; 1,200 at peak periods.
• Construction of the Infill doubled the size of the building to 26,000 m²
• New courtyard infill weighs over 1,000 tonnes – one seventh the weight
of the Eiffel Tower.
• If laid end-to-end, the steel beams of the roof would stretch over 7km
• The roof is made of 2,600 m² of glass: about the size of 2 NHL
hockey rinks
• 500 kms of copper cabling were used
• Over 200 masons worked on the building daily during the peak of
masonry work—the project contributed to a renewal of heritage
masonry in Canada.
