Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has begun construction on its new 12,900 square-metre preservation facility in Gatineau. The addition of this new building, which will be linked to the existing state-of-the-art Preservation Centre, will allow LAC to consolidate an ever-growing collection and guarantee the long-term preservation of analogue textual holdings and audiovisual materials, which require very special preservation conditions.
The new facility is a specialized, flexible, and sustainable building, with objectives aligned to meet the Government of Canada’s priorities to invest in sustainable federal infrastructure and Canadian culture.
At the leading edge of technology, the new state-of-the-art facility will be the world’s largest that is equipped with an automated storage and retrieval system for archival collections. The centre will provide 21,500 cubic metres, or the equivalent of about 8.5 Olympic swimming pools, of collection storage capacity in two highly controlled environments across six vaults
The facility also will be the first net-zero carbon centre dedicated to archival preservation in the Americas when it goes into operation by summer 2022.
In addition to the new facility works, Plenary Properties Gatineau will be responsible for facility maintenance, lifecycle, energy retrofitting, and shelving optimization at the existing Preservation Centre. The consortium includes PCL Constructors Eastern Inc. and B+H Architects.
