Colonial Building renovation deemed overdue

A planned restoration of the Colonial Building in St. John's means a key part of Newfoundland and Labrador history will be preserved for generations to come, a heritage activist says.

The restoration was part of a series of infrastructure spending announcementswhich also included an ambitious plan to almost double the size of the St. John's Convention Centremade in St. John's last week.

While the spending has been criticized by Opposition critics as pre-election vote-courting, David Bradley, chair of the Association of Heritage Industries of Newfoundland and Labrador, said the long-awaited work on the Colonial Building is justified.

"I think arguably it's our most important surviving historic building," Bradley said in an interview.

"When you think about it, it's where our government started practically. We had a few years of representative government before the Colonial Building opened, but the Colonial Building actually opened in 1850, and for over a hundred years it was our seat of government."

Afterthe early 1960s when Confederation Building was completed, the Colonial Building was used primarily to house the provincial archives. Those holdings were moved to The Rooms cultural complex, which opened in 2005 and also houses the provincial museum and art gallery.

Three levels of government plan to spend $24 million on the renovation.

Premier Kathy Dunderdale said last week the Colonial Building "will be fully restored inside and out." The government intends to use the building as a museum of the political history of the province, as well as headquarters for non-profit organizations working to protect heritage.