Iqaluit airport builder to study impact of roof fire

Black smoke pours from the roof of the Iqaluit’s new airport terminal building, which is still under construction. Bouygues Building Canada Inc., responsible for designing and building the structure, will do an engineering study to find out of the resulting fire and water damage will delay completion of the project. (PHOTO BY THOMAS ROHNER)

The firm responsible for designing and building Iqaluit’s new airport terminal building will try to figure out if a Sept. 5 fire will delay completion of the project, the Government of Nunavut said Sept. 6 in a statement.

“An engineering investigation by the design builder is necessary beforehand to determine the extent of fire and water damage,” the statement said.

Bouygues Building Canada Inc., a subsidiary of a big French multi-national, is the private business responsible for design and construction of the airport project, using various subsidiaries and sub-contractors, including Sintra, Stantec, Kudlik Construction Inc., and Tower Arctic Ltd.

Workers had nearly finished the exterior of the airport terminal when the roof of the building caught fire early in the evening of Sept. 5.

Firefighters put it out just after 8 p.m., but it’s still not clear to what extent this will delay completion of the project.

Police and bylaw officers set up a road block on the section of Federal Road between the Baffin Correctional Centre and the Ungallipaat Street baseball diamond, while numerous Iqaluit residents gazed at the scene from a ridge at the edge of the Plateau subdivision.

A combined team of airport firefighters and City of Iqaluit firefighters fought the fire.

The GN did say they don’t expect the fire to affect their costs — because the cost of fire risk is presumably borne by the private partnership that will build and operate the airport for the next 34 years.

The new terminal is part of a massive overhaul that will effectively lead to a new Iqaluit airport.

After 34 years, it’s expected to cost $418.9 million, the largest single infrastructure project in Nunavut’s history.

The construction cost in present-day dollars is estimated at $298.5 million, but the GN will also pay the private consortium annual amounts each year to run the airport.

A new entity called Nunavut Airport Services Ltd., owned by the Winnipeg Airport Authority, began operating the new airport complex as of July 21, 2014.