TORONTO -Infrastructure Ontario (IO) has selected Gensler Architecture and Design Canada Inc., (Gensler) to provide architectural, design and programming services to facilitate the relocation of Ontario government employees from the Macdonald Block Complex. Gensler was selected following a competitive public procurement process.

Prior to reconstruction, employees working in the complex will be relocated to three temporary office locations within downtown Toronto. In consultation and collaboration with stakeholders from each Ministry, Gensler will plan, program, and design the leasehold improvements required at each of the temporary locations.

IO and the Ministry of Infrastructure are working in partnership to reconstruct the publicly-owned Macdonald Block Complex. The project will be completed over an eight-year period, with employees beginning to move out of the complex in late 2018. Reconstruction will occur between 2019 and 2023 and staff will move into the newly reconstructed complex in 2023-2024.

Work on the Macdonald Block Complex is part of the larger Queen's Park Reconstruction Project, which also includes the rehabilitation of the Whitney Block.

Quick Facts

  • The Macdonald Block Complex is a critical hub of Ontario government operations. The complex includes the Macdonald Block Podium, and the Hearst, Hepburn, Mowat and Ferguson towers.
  • The 45-year-old Macdonald Block has never undergone a major renovation and the building's core systems - including electrical, water, cooling and heating - have reached the end of their useful life and must now be replaced
  • An independent third-party expert panel concluded that an extensive reconstruction of the Macdonald Block Complex was necessary and recommended the entire complex be vacant during reconstruction so that work can be safely, efficiently and economically completed in one single phase.
  • The Macdonald Block Complex project will be delivered by Infrastructure Ontario using an Alternative Financing and Procurement model, which has a proven track record with 98 percent of project being completed on budget.
  • The project will also support the government's efforts to fight climate change. Ontario's Climate Change Action Plan commits to making provincial government operations carbon neutral by 2018.

Background:

Infrastructure Ontario (IO) is a Crown agency of the Province of Ontario that works to deliver public benefits through partnerships with the private sector. IO delivers large, complex public infrastructure projects using a made-in-Ontario modern procurement and project management practice called Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP). IO also partners with the private sector to manage one of the largest real estate portfolios in Canada, provides municipalities and eligible public sector clients with loans to renew public infrastructure, and leverages its private-sector expertise to advise provincial public-sector clients on commercial transactions.

Contacts

Samantha Gileno
Infrastructure Ontario
416-327-5764

Aslan Hart
Communications Branch, Ministry of Infrastructure
416 325-4679

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