Ottawa's new transportation safety science centre moves into construction with $404.9M contract option
The facility on the NRC's Montreal Road campus will house about 260 NRC and Transportation Safety Board staff and support crash research across all modes, including trucking.
A new federal lab built to study how transportation accidents happen, and how to prevent them, is moving from site prep into full construction in Ottawa.
Public Services and Procurement Canada announced on Oct. 30 that it has exercised its contract option with Bird Construction Group for full construction management services on the Transportation Safety Science and Technology (TSST) project. The option is worth an estimated $404.9 million.
What is being built
The centre is going up on the National Research Council of Canada campus on Montreal Road in Ottawa, at 1200 Montreal Road. It will house about 260 employees from the NRC and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
PSPC says the building will have modern labs, specialized science capabilities and shared work space for research, testing and innovation. The goal is to help scientists and investigators develop new safety technologies, improve accident investigation techniques and strengthen transportation safety standards.
The work covers aviation, marine, rail, road and pipelines.
Why it matters for trucking
Bringing TSB investigators and NRC researchers under one roof is meant to close the gap between research and accident investigation. Both the NRC president and the TSB chair said in the release that the facility will improve collaboration and give investigators access to specialized science capabilities.
Timeline
- Site preparation started in summer 2025.
- Main construction started in fall 2026.
- Substantial completion is expected in 2031.
The project is part of Laboratories Canada, a $3.8-billion federal program to modernize government science facilities. PSPC says the lab will also do eligible research and development work for the Canadian Armed Forces and Defence Research and Development Canada, which counts toward Canada's NATO defence investment commitments.
The government says the project will use Canadian expertise and, where possible, Canadian materials under its Buy Canadian policy. The contracts also include Indigenous participation plans.