EllisDon – BUILDING UP The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) – INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

BY JAMES CARELESS

Founded 1951, EllisDon is a Canadian employee-owned construction services firm that has built projects around the world. In Canada alone, EllisDon has constructed landmarks such as the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto’s Rogers Centre (aka the SkyDome) and literally too many commercial, educational, government, and residential buildings to mention.

            “At EllisDon, we build everything,” said David McFarlane, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for EllisDon’s Western Canadian Construction Group. “This includes a wide range of buildings for the Department of National Defence (DND). We have a long history with DND and Defence Construction Canada (DCC, the contracting authority for DND), and we are proud to do our part to support the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).”

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NOTEWORTHY DEFENCE PROJECTS

             The best way to get a sense of EllisDon’s contributions to Canada’s defence infrastructure is to detail some of the major projects they have been or are currently involved in.

            A case in point: When Irving Shipbuilding was awarded major contracts under Canada’s

National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) – formerly known as the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS), Irving hired EllisDon to modernise its Halifax facility. The project included new piers and marine loading areas, the installation of specialized equipment to facilitate the construction of the new Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) and the River-Class Destroyer (RCD) warships. A new Assembly Hall was constructed with over 400,000 square feet of adjacent marine structures and off-site structures that support the construction of new navy ships along with 8,000 metric tonnes of structural steel that was over half a kilometre in length.

            “That was a really big accomplishment,” said Shaun Stiles, EllisDon’s Senior Vice President and Area Manager for Atlantic Canada. “We completed the new assembly hall in 2015 to fulfill the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy. It’s a very large facility and we built it quickly, which was a major accomplishment. We are back down there doing some more upgrades at the shipyard and we’re also across the harbor at Irving’s Marine Fabricators facility in Dartmouth and at their Woodside facility doing some upgrades for them as well.”

That’s not all: In 2023, EllisDon was awarded the Design-Build project for development of the Combatant Training and Integration Centre – Atlantic at Canadian Forces Base Halifax. This new facility will house cutting-edge training systems to train Canadian sailors to operate the Navy’s new fleet of RCD warships. “We’re about halfway through the design phase, and we’ll hopefully start construction next year,” Stiles told CDR. “It’s going to be a fantastic training facility for the Navy’s RCD ships.”

EllisDon is playing a similarly vital role in Canada’s air defence. To be specific, EllisDon is the Design-Build contractor working on the new fighter jet infrastructure facilities at 4 Wing Cold Lake, and 3 Wing Bagotville. The facilities at each base will ultimately house Canada’s CF-35 Future Fighter aircraft. Both facilities will include space for daily operations, maintenance, administration, mission planning, and simulator training. “These are super exciting and incredibly important projects to bolster our nation’s defence, and we are enormously proud to be involved in them,” said McFarlane.

            Meanwhile, EllisDon is redeveloping DND’s Eastern Canadian campus in Ottawa’s rural west end. “This is an overhaul of an existing military base used by the CAF’s Special Operations arm, and we’re Construction Managers on the project,” McFarlane said. “There’s currently 89 buildings on the site, which DND is going to consolidate and refresh with 23 new facilities.”

            Out on Canada’s West Coast, EllisDon has been involved with large defence projects such as the Fleet Maintenance Facility Cape Breton (FMFCB) and more recently the Jr. Ranks Accommodation Training Facility; both at CFB Esquimalt. FMFCB saw the consolidation and modernization of the industrial facilities at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt’s Dockyard that support the Canadian Navy. The Junior Ranks Accommodation Training Facility, currently under design, will bring together functions currently housed in multiple base buildings and move them into a single high-rise with about 480 single occupancy rooms, administrative areas, and a dining area and kitchen capable of serving 700 people.

“FMFCB has replaced and consolidated the Pacific fleet’s ship maintenance facilities,” said Craig Enns, EllisDon’s Senior Vice President and Area Manager for British Columbia. “Whether it’s new gantry cranes or welding materials, they’re now able to better maintain and upgrade their existing fleet. In addition, there were almost 9,000 square metres of existing shop fit-ups and then another close to 3,000 square metres of renovations to the existing facilities.”

PROVIDING TRUE CUSTOMER SERVICE

            These are just some of the many defence infrastructure projects that EllisDon has done, and you can be sure that there will be more in the future. “That’s because DND and DCC are one of our largest clients,” McFarlane said. “We’re proud to be working alongside them. They’re great clients who embrace collaboration on their projects and EllisDon is proud to have the confidence of the government, allowing us to be their partners in this field of work.”

            The secret of EllisDon’s success is true customer service. “We’re not only a construction company; we offer cradle-to-grave services,” said McFarlane. “This means that we’re here for our customers from the design stage through construction and then into acceptance and ongoing maintenance. EllisDon isn’t one of those contractors who hands you the building and leaves you hanging. We’re here to help over the long haul.”

            “It’s amazing how much Canadian defence infrastructure work we’ve done,” Stiles added. “I think EllisDon’s success comes down to two things: The quality of our highly-skilled people, and our extensive experience in this sector.”

            As to what’s coming next? EllisDon plans to play a major role in the $30 billion modernization of Canada’s NORAD facilities. “It would be our honour to provide our services to realize this significant project,” concluded McFarlane. “EllisDon is always happy to be there to support the people of the Canadian Armed Forces.”

James Careless is CDR’s Ottawa Bureau Chief