Halifax Armoury cleanup planned

Decontamination work will begin soon on several former indoor firing ranges at the Halifax Armoury.

The Department of National Defence filed public notice this week that it will conduct an environmental overhaul on a basement area of the military landmark, built in the late 1890s. The area is currently under quarantine because of lead and asbestos contamination.

The affected area includes four firing ranges, nine adjacent rooms and three hallways.

Halifax Coun. Dawn Sloane said the remediation is a positive sign.

"I think this is the start of a good thing," she said. "I think that the building needs its renovations. Deferred maintenance is a death call to any building owned by any government, or any person really."

In 2007, the federal auditor general reported the building needed $7 million in repairs.

But the military says the basement decontamination is separate from the larger project of rehabilitating upstairs.

Sloane said she hopes DND will soon focus on the necessary repairs.

"The more you allow things to deteriorate, the more it costs," she said, "so to me this is a step in the right direction and I hope that this is just the first thing to come out."

The project involves removing lead dust, lead-contaminated sand and asbestos pipe insulation. Wood partition walls will be removed and disposed of. If the dust cannot be removed from the concrete floor, it will besealed under an epoxy covering.

The remediation is expected to cost $300,000 and be completed by December 2010.