‘Like Legos’: Pangnirtung’s Auyuittuq Lodge doubles in size

Pangnirtung more than doubled its hotel capacity on Sunday as Inns North hosted a grand opening of its $10-million, 18-room expansion of Auyuittuq Lodge.

Company officials compare the hotel’s year-long modular sea-can construction process to child’s play, but they don’t kid around when it comes to the benefits for the hamlet.

“It will open up a lot of economic opportunities for the community,” said Matthew Nakashuk, a member of the Pangnirtung Co-op board, which owns and manages the hotel through Inns North, the Arctic Co-operatives Ltd.’s chain of hotels across 21 Nunavut communities.

Pangnirtung Co-op board member Rebecca Kanayuk cut the ribbon with an ulu to officially welcome the public Sunday and Nakashuk led dozens of residents on tours of the new three-storey building afterward.

“We’re so happy to open and are proud of the hotel extension,” Kanayuk said.

The building is located next door to the original lodge and its existing 15 guest rooms, dining room and conference space. The new wing has a separate entrance.

Amenities include two one-bedroom rooms with kitchenettes for Co-op staff, a one-bedroom executive guest suite, laundry facilities on every floor, and a backup generator that can run the hotel at full capacity for three days on a single tank of fuel.

There is also an accessible suite designed for customers with enhanced mobility needs, including wider spaces, adjustable shower heads, and a door peephole at wheelchair level.

Nine Pangnirtung construction workers participated at various stages of the build. One of them, Joshua Kanayuk, will remain on staff permanently as the hotel’s general maintenance worker.

Two housekeepers and two front desk attendants were also hired. More staffing positions need to be filled, said hotel manager Rheanne Groumoutis.

“We’re definitely hiring,” she said. “There’s lots of work opportunities.”

The building is constructed from 30 standard, 12-metre-long modular sea cans engineered and fabricated over about six months by Montreal-based Corner Cast Inc.

The stairway arrived fully built in two pieces that workers snapped together on site.

“It is literally like Legos,” said Chris Sousa, Co-op’s senior manager of construction and maintenance. “We started erecting the building in mid-October — 10 days later, we had a fully standing building as you see it today.”

A rotating crew of about 10 people worked to finish the enclosed interior over the subsequent five months. Plumbing and electrical infrastructure arrived fully installed by Corner Cast.

Sousa compared the hotel’s short construction window with that of a conventional stick or steel build, which would take close to two years in the Arctic.

The cost of the modular build is about 40 per cent cheaper than conventional builds as well, he added.

If the modular sea can construction is comparable to Lego, transporting the 30 sea cans to the hamlet unfolded like a video game, said Brian Tattuinee, business development manager with Nunavut Sealink and Supply Inc.

“It’s very much like Tetris,” he said. “Stackability is the biggest benefit to this type of construction.”

The materials arrived in Pangnirtung in the August sealift.

Pangnirtung MLA Johnny Mike, who served on the local Co-op board until October, said some board members had been skeptical about using a sea-can modular-build approach.

“That kind of approach was new to the board members. We saw some pictures and designs and I think we underestimated the quality of the building,” he said.

“After I walked around it, I was very impressed. It is an example to do more development and it’s very economical.”

Arctic Co-operatives Ltd. is planning another modular sea-can build in Naujaat — this one is a convenience store with a large community gathering space attached.

That project is in the fabrication stage. Materials are expected to arrive by sealift in the summer, Sousa said.