Nunavut RCMP building in “stable and sound condition,” says Public Works Canada

Trouble with a thermosyphon cooling system under RCMP headquarters in limited to one per cent of the building, according to an engineering report. (PHOTO PETER VARGA)

The RCMP’s $18-million headquarters in Iqaluit is in sound condition, according to engineers hired by Public Works Canada.

That’s despite structural shifting in a central area of the building during its first year of operation.

Winnipeg-based Arctic Foundations of Canada Inc., which built the buildings’ foundations, concluded earlier this year that a cooling system beneath the building failed due to “sabotage.”

Failure of part of the building’s thermosyphon cooling system, which keeps permafrost in the ground from melting, caused an area in the centre of the building to shift and sink after 2010, John Jardine, co-president of Arctic Foundations, said at the time.

Public Works Canada, which developed the project, called on an independent structural engineer to assess the building on March 27.

Public Works spokesperson Tom Corrigan said in an email that an assessment by Winnipeg-based Crosier, Kilgour and Partners Ltd. “concluded that the building is in stable and sound condition.”

The firm found evidence of shifting, floor and wall movement and cracks, he said.

These issues are “isolated,” Corrigan said, “and can be addressed with repairs or adjustments, and have no impact on the building’s structural integrity.”

Effects are limited to a small section of a floor in one room, amounting to about one per cent of the building’s 2,850 square metres of space, he said.

Public Works is also conducting a separate investigation of the building’s thermosyphon system to determine the cause of failure and ensure the foundation stays stable.

Corrigan said Public Works expects that review to be completed in June. Any needed repairs will be made after engineers monitor permafrost under the building for a full year, and they are sure the building has stabilized.

Opened in the spring of 2010, the building, with a striking V-shape and extensive solar-friendly windows, was touted as a state-of-the-art facility. Among other innovations, the building features a thermosyphon-cooling system in the foundation which is designed to keep the ground solid and prevent the building from shifting or sinking.

Arctic Foundations first detected a malfunction in the cooling system at the end of that year.