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BEAUFORT DELTA
Three new airport buildings are up and running in the NWT communities.

Three NWT communities are enjoying new airport terminal buildings. Pictured here is the new Paulatuk terminal being put in place after arriving on the barge from Hay River. The new Sachs Harbour terminal is identical to this one, excepting that it is blue instead of red. The other new terminal is in Tuktoyaktuk, though it is roughly twice the size of the other two and was built in place rather than pre-fabricated. - photo courtesy of Concept Energy Ltd.

Sachs Harbour, Paulatuk and Tuktoyaktuk have all recently seen their aging airport terminals replaced with newer, more efficient structures.

"What can I say? It's nice to be in it. It's been a long time," said Derrel Nasogaluak, CARS supervisor at the Tuktoyaktuk airport. "We've been waiting many years, I've been here 14 years and we were always told we were going to get a new one and it's finally happened."

The old Sachs Harbour terminal was built in 1980-82, though it had received some renovations and repairs over the years; the old Paulatuk building was a pre-fabricated structure built in 1994; and the Tuktoyaktuk terminal was previously an amalgamation of old structures left over from oil companies during the days when there was oil rigging in Tuk.

"All three buildings were rather old – past their life stage," said Terry Brookes, manager of buildings and planning, airports division, at the Department of Transportation. "These buildings, they did their bit in their time and that's great but everything built starts to wear out, especially under the weather conditions up North here."

Federal stimulus funding made it possible for all three terminals to be built at the same time, where usually they would have to be built one at a time over the span of a few years, said Brookes.

"They were kind of on the books to be replaced and the opportunity came along to do it now so we kind of grabbed it and went with it."

Since June of 2009, the federal government has provided $5 million from the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund to 20 different projects in the NWT.

"The Government of Canada has been happy to work with the Government of the Northwest Territories to support the replacement of the Paulatuk, Tuktoyaktuk and Sachs Harbour terminal buildings," Infrastructure Canada told News/North in a written statement. "For most of the year, these three air terminals are the primary means of transporting people and goods into their respective communities."

Originally, money from the fund was intended only for projects that could be completed before March 31, 2011. However, last year the terminal buildings project was granted an extension to Oct. 31, 2011 in order to allow for one more construction season.

All three new terminals hit this new deadline. The Tuktoyaktuk terminal was up and running first on Sept. 22; operations were transferred to the Sachs Harbour terminal on Oct. 5; and Paulatuk was completed on Oct. 20.

"There's still some work to do to them," said Brookes, who also served as the project manager for the new Tuktoyaktuk terminal. "We had the contractor up there for some inspections and some deficiencies but that's common. But basically the buildings are functioning as the new terminal buildings now."

Two of the new terminal buildings – those in Paulatuk and Sachs Harbour – are identical structures that were built in Hay River and then transported via barge to their respective communities over the past summer. Each of these buildings have 120 square metres of floor space cost a little more than $1 million.

The Tuktoyaktuk terminal is nearly twice the size of the other two at 225 square metres, and has cost $2.1 million to date with a little work remaining. This building was not pre-fabricated, but was "stick built" in place.

In terms of how long the new terminal buildings are expected to last, Brookes said these types of buildings are usually given a 25-year life span, though analysis are usually done after about 15 years to determine how much life the building has left.

"Maintenance is always a big factor," said Brookes. "If you have good maintenance, buildings will last much longer."

As someone who will spend a considerable amount of time in the new Tuktoyaktuk terminal, Nasogaluak is thrilled with the quality of the building so far.

"It's great. Really nice and warm. The heat's really uniform and it's fly-free. (laughs) The old building was really bad."

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