The old firehall in Chemainus is coming down.
The demolition project makes way for the development of a new branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library in the centre of town, across from the freshly revived Waterwheel Park.
It’s all in keeping with council’s Chemainus Revitalization Plan, first developed in 2011.
Deconstruction is expected to take about eight weeks.
“This is the new regime we’re in with removing old buildings,” North Cowichan Mayor Jon Lefebure explained. “Even small builders, even people at renovation levels are required by WorkSafe BC to take a very cautious approach with any materials basically pre-1990s that would have asbestos fibre in them and that has meant a far more careful deconstruction of buildings, and an expensive one as well,” he said.
Gone are the days of a machine knocking a building down and its pieces getting hauled away in a dumpster.
“Now when they know there are materials with asbestos in it, the workers have to be properly protected and the outside environment has to be properly protected from fibers escaping from the materials as they’re deconstructed,” Lefebure said.
The mayor said crews are working at a good clip and he wouldn’t be surprised if work was completed before eight weeks. And when one project is done, the next will begin.
“As soon as that building is gone and we can offer clear title to the lot, with the lot cleared, to the VIRL then we can request that the planning process start,” Lefebure said. “We have to complete the clearing of that lot first.”
He said that while he wasn’t sure what the VIRL board has on its plate for 2016, he’s hoping there will be time to complete the design process this year so that construction could start as early as next year.