Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 27/01) - The Arthur Laing building is getting a major facelift, but the big changes are occurring beneath the surface.

The biggest part of the three-year $4.5 million renovation will be the installation of a new ventilation and air conditioning system.

The Arthur Laing building, built in 1968, at Franklin Avenue and 49th Street, was originally planned as a three-storey building. - Richard Gleeson/NNSL photo

"It's overdue for a mid-life refit," said Wayne Nesbitt, the Department of Public Works and services manager overseeing the renovation.

An elevator modernization that began in January is almost complete and a multi-million dollar construction contract for the renovation will be awarded next week.

An exterior reconditioning, including a coat of paint (similar to the existing colour), new caulking to stop some of the leaks that have developed and battens in the joints of the pre-cast concrete panels will be the most obvious improvements to passers-by.

"The exterior will look like brand new, but it's just a glorified paint job," Nesbitt said.

The roof will be shored up to support the weight of an air compressor and conditioning system that will weigh in at about 85,000 pounds. (The present system sits next to the building in an alley.)

The interiors of the fifth and sixth floors will soon be totally gutted and rebuilt. In 1995, the government did the same to the second and fourth floors.

To make way for the interior renovations, high-powered bureaucrats and their support staff will move into temporary offices. The move to vacant space in the first and third floors of the Laing building, the NorthwestTel Tower and Yellowknife Centre will last from six to eight months, Nesbitt said.

In a later phase, the first and third floors will also be refurbished.

If the original plan had been followed, there would be no fourth, fifth and sixth floors to renovate.

Preliminary plans had it at three storeys. During the design phase another two storeys were added to meet the growing demands of a new government.

The demand must have continued, because during construction a sixth floor was added.

The government took over ownership of the building on at the conclusion of a 20-year lease-to-own deal.