A new lease on life for an historic structure

The Senate of Canada Building is the Senate’s temporary home. Originally Ottawa’s Central Train Station, this building served until recently as the Government Conference Centre. Extensive renovations, thanks to the Senate, have given this historic structure a new lease on life.

The Senate’s permanent home, Parliament’s Centre Block, is undergoing its first major rehabilitation since the building’s opening in 1920. There had been a proposal to build an interim Senate Chamber in the courtyard of the East Block building. Instead, senators saw an opportunity to make their home in the neglected Government Conference Centre.

The six-year renovation project resulted in a modern facility in this temporary home. What was once the concourse of the train station is now the Senate Chamber which house the Upper House of Canada’s Parliament.

The full broadcast of the sessions of the Senate proceedings began airing on March 18, 2019, coinciding with the Senate's temporary relocation. As this required the addition of broadcast quality lighting JOEL Rigging incorporated two ETC Prodigy electric battens into the ornate ceiling of the chamber. This allows for the battens to be lowered for servicing and focusing of the TV lighting fixtures. Great care was taken in the interstitial space above the historic Beaux-Arts ceiling to properly coordinate the structural steel required to support the battens.