- Job: LHO Complex
- Location: Baker Lake, NU
- Type: Industrial / Office – New Build
- Construction Budget: $7.4 million
- Year Completed: 2019
- Prime Consultant: ARCAN
- Client: Nunavut Housing Corporation
- Delivery: Bid - Build
- Description:
As most projects located in Nunavut, this project required an immense attention to detail, clear consistent communication and significant logistics coordination. All material is shipped to site via a single annual delivery. That means the even if a box of screws is missing it has to be flown in at a highly inflated rate. Due to shipping schedules and natural seasons materials are often sent in nearly an entire year prior to the majority of the construction taking place. In addition there is the short construction season and constant weather challenges to contend with. The arctic is one of the most challenging places in the world to build.
Nevertheless our crews and teams have vast amount of experience navigating these challenging circumstances and regularly complete projects such as this. The LHO Complex is the Local Housing Office and Maintenance Complex constructed for the Nunavut Housing Corporation. This building has administrative offices as well as shop space and storage garage to facilitate the maintenance and management of community housing in Baker Lake.
This job had significant construction challenges in the fact it was a steel pile foundation (typical in the arctic) with a portion of the building that required concrete slab and foundation walls. Concrete is challenging enough in northern remote communities where raw materials are scarce or nonexistent and trucks, mixers or plants don't exist. The goal in arctic construction is to maintain a consistent frozen ground under the building, especially challenging when incorporating two different foundation types. At the end of the day our team completed a successful building that left us, the client and consultants very happy with the final outcome.
