Government House in Victoria, BC is the official residence of the province of British Columbia’s Lieutenant Governor, the province’s representative to the Queen of England. It is situated on 36 acres of ocean view property in the prestigious Rockland neighbourhood near the heart of downtown Victoria. In fact, when the Royal Family, High Commissioners, Consul Generals, Ambassadors or Foreign Leaders visit Canada, Government House is often their home away from home.
JJ Boudreault and his Service team replaced the uppermost flat roofs and the roof of the porte-cochere on this high-profile and impressive Tudor styled mansion. The upper flat roofs were problematic at best. These roofs are narrow and flat with no parapets. Swing fall hazards abound! In advance of the work, we partnered with the City of Victoria Fire Department to create a formal rescue plan.
The Victoria Service Management team has long recognized the difficulty in addressing the significant safety concerns present here and has lobbied the authorities for years to install a permanent fall protection system on the upper roofs. Victoria Service prevailed, the funds were secured in 2017 and work began early in 2018. Extensive reinforcement for the permanent engineered Horizontal Life Line (HLL) system was required within the attic, and this was the first order of business. Structural steel supports for the HLL were hoisted into the attic through the roof access hatch and welded into place (by others).
Now complete, the installation of the HLL system is a significant victory for all future workers who must access the roof to carry out routine maintenance or repairs.
A Hazardous Materials Survey commissioned by the Property Management team revealed asbestos in the existing roofing system. As such, a Hazardous Materials Abatement Team was retained by the Property Manager to remove the roof. JJ and his crew followed up with re-roofing after the debris was safety bagged by the HAZMAT team for disposal. Replacing a roof like this during two of the rainiest months of the year added to the complexity. The relentless threat of near record-breaking rain instilled an elevated degree of urgency. Add in the “black-out” days when we were informed that no work is to be carried out due to a regal function, our consecutive days on site were negatively affected. Our schedule was even altered to accommodate the filming of a movie!
The weather was improving when it came time to re-roof the porte-cochere; however, another substantial challenge was unearthed. The roof deck was found to be in an advanced state of structural decay, well beyond any chance of rehabilitation. The Structural Engineer promptly condemned the entire roof structure. There is no Plan “B” in a scenario such as this. Removing the roof and leaving the porte-cochere open to the sky is not an option for this iconic landmark, a National Historic Site.
All parties concerned were immediately informed of the seriousness of the lack of structural integrity of the roof. Our service crew promptly erected fencing, barricades, and signage and blocked the front entrance doors of Government House. All this during the Installation (the proper term for the “swearing in”) of a recently appointed Lieutenant Governor.
The Provincial Government Ministry responsible for Official Protocols was not at all pleased with the state of affairs as there was a formal reception for up to 400 dignitaries scheduled midway through the repairs. All visitors and dignitaries had to access the property through the service entrance side doors during the reconstruction phase. It was a significant inconvenience for Government Officials, however; they understood that this was a mandatory requirement far beyond the control of our crew. The degradation of this roof has most certainly been underway for many years. The Flynn Victoria Service team pushed every button possible to accommodate the residents, guests, staff and the management team at Government House during all phases of our work here.
This was a very challenging project for our Service team, with perseverance and hard work they pulled it off!
