Trenton building boom

Lots of trickle-down from new aircraft purchases (via Spotlight on Military News and International Affairs):

Big money, big buildings, big planes are the new normal here -- and all are arriving in a big hurry.

With the federal government pouring more than half a billion dollars in capital construction projects over four years into Canada's largest air base, it is in a constant state of demolition, redesign, construction and innovation.

"This is where people want to be because this is where the action is," said Maj. Phil Baker, the new wing construction engineering officer.

He oversees the construction effort, now in its second year.

Baker said working in Trenton has become a "sought-after" job for military construction and engineering staff.

About 320 people, half of them military, work under Baker's command.

"People are happy to be involved in all this construction," he said Thursday. "At the same time, we're always looking for more people...

Big money, big buildings, big planes are the new normal here -- and all are arriving in a big hurry.

With the federal government pouring more than half a billion dollars in capital construction projects over four years into Canada's largest air base, it is in a constant state of demolition, redesign, construction and innovation.

"This is where people want to be because this is where the action is," said Maj. Phil Baker, the new wing construction engineering officer.

He oversees the construction effort, now in its second year.

Baker said working in Trenton has become a "sought-after" job for military construction and engineering staff.

About 320 people, half of them military, work under Baker's command.

"People are happy to be involved in all this construction," he said Thursday. "At the same time, we're always looking for more people...

8 Wing-CFB Trenton is in the second year of a four-year construction boom with a budget of more than half a billion dollars...

With Trenton being the Forces' transportation hub, much of the investment is linked to what the military calls air mobility -- moving people and material, usually in huge numbers -- around the world.

Much of the focus is now on infrastructure to support the four new CC-177 Globemaster III heavy-lift planes of 429 Transport Squadron.

A temporary hangar capable of covering a single Globemaster is nearly finished, but the permanent hangars will be far more extensive, with specialized workshops and a few officers for the planes' maintainers.

Costs for building the hangars is budgeted at $150 million.

A supply and maintenance building for the Globemasters has an estimated cost of $30 million.

Additional work will include an extensive new aircraft refueling system and hangars for the 17 new Hercules air transports. The planes are slated to begin arriving in 2010.

In the meantime there are improvements to the flightline tarmac where planes taxi and park.

Krajcik said that area, known as the apron, is growing by more than 26 per cent. In 2006, its area was 567,000 square metres. He said an extra 150,000 square metres of space are being built.

"There's going to be apron work for the next four summers," said Chinnatamby.

He said the base's regular operations will continue at "full capacity but with a lot of caveats and compromises."

But that's not all. Chinnatamby said "at least 20 buildings, large and small" will be constructed.

"The infrastructure that we have here is quite old," he said. "Some of it dates back 50, 60 years."

For that reason, he said, many of the buildings between the 424 Squadron hangar just east of RCAF Road and the Wing Operations Centre, just across the highway from the main gate, will be demolished.

The overall construction plan is centred within the base's borders. Any plans for land the federal defence department has bought north of the base have not been disclosed, though it's expected the elite Joint Task Force 2 or another similar unit will eventually headquarter there [emphasis added]...

The following are some highlights of the construction plans. Costs shown are budgeted amounts and subject to change.

Air mobility projects:

* Two dual-bay Globemaster hangars with specialized workshops. First hangar: $90 million. Second: $60 million

* Supply and maintenance building for Globemasters, $30 million.

* Twelve fuel hydrants and related infrastructure, estimated at $20 million.

* Temporary Globemaster hangar, nearly complete, $4.3 million.

* Southeast apron (tarmac), now under construction, $18.2 million.

* New hangars for Hercules fleet, budget to be announced.

Other projects:

* Electrical and mechanical engineering building, $54 million. Ground will be broken in August 2009. It will be used for repairs and equipment storage and should be finished by 2011.

* Refinishing facility for Trenton's Aerospace and Telecommunications Engineering Support Squadron, $22 million. Helicopters and CF-18 Hornet jet fighters will be repainted there. The building's design is nearly complete and construction is likely to last from 2009 into 2011.

* Joint Incident Response Unit headquarters, $18.5 billion. Some final work is needed before the secretive counter-terrorism unit moves into its new home off RCAF Road by this September. The project was in the news recently after early blueprints were discovered in a trash bin on an Ottawa street.

* Construction of an air traffic control tower, $10.4 million. In operation by next summer.

* Canadian Forces Aerospace Warfare Centre think-tank, $20 million. Ground-breaking will be held next week on the base's former baseball diamonds south of Highway 2. New diamonds will be built on the northwest corner of Highway 2 and RCAF Road. Estimated cost: $1.2 million.

* New fire hall, $10.1 million. New trucks are also expected; no cost was available at press time.

* Offices for all flying squadrons will be moved south across the highway, a major departure from the past tradition of housing crews with their planes.