PCL Construction Canada Inc. has been awarded a CAD 768.6 million construction services contract for the Regulatory and Security Science Main project on Fallowfield Road in Ottawa. The award, announced on 10 August 2026, moves Canada’s largest federal science build of the decade from enabling works into full construction, with the first component due to receive scientists in 2031.
What PCL Is Building on the Fallowfield Road Site
The RSS Main campus will rise on the grounds of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s existing Ottawa laboratory at 3851 Fallowfield Road, a facility that Public Services and Procurement Canada records show was built in 1972. Six new science buildings will replace at least seven ageing federal laboratories, consolidating roughly 275 scientists and researchers drawn from four departments and agencies: the CFIA, the Canada Border Services Agency, Health Canada, and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The scientific brief is narrower and more security-weighted than the campus headcount suggests. PSPC has set out four research concentrations for the facility: protection of human, plant and animal health, food safety with a specialisation in food chemistry, emergency preparedness, and border security. That mix drives an unusually high proportion of containment and controlled laboratory space, which is the main reason the capital cost sits where it does.
Component 1, the phase PCL has now been contracted to build, carries a value of CAD 1.05 billion according to PSPC’s project page, and represents roughly half the total planned scope for the site. The campus has been deliberately structured in components so that further buildings can be added on the same land without redesigning the whole. Environmental targets are set at net-zero carbon-ready, using ground-source heating and heat recovery, with the buildings pursuing both LEED and Fitwel certification.
The Procurement Trail Behind the Award, and a Figure Worth Watching
This contract did not appear from nowhere, and the fuller procurement record is more interesting than the announcement.
PSPC awarded the first contracts on RSS Main in December 2023. Architectural and engineering services went to a joint venture of Provencher Roy Associés Architectes and Perkins&Will Canada for CAD 60.2 million including taxes. In the same round, PCL took the construction management services contract, which PSPC described as carrying a total value of up to CAD 723 million as options were exercised through the project. A further two contracts worth a combined CAD 63.2 million followed in March 2024 for laboratory facilities.
Set the December 2023 ceiling against Monday’s announcement and there is a gap of roughly CAD 45 million. PSPC’s own project page, last modified on 30 December 2025, still carried the CAD 723 million figure at the time of the August award. Whether the CAD 768.6 million construction services contract represents the same vehicle revalued as options were exercised, or a distinct instrument sitting alongside the earlier management contract, has not been set out publicly. It is the obvious question for anyone tracking cost movement on the file.
Two other procurement details deserve more attention than they have received. The project is being delivered under Laboratories Canada’s Repeatable Laboratory Design Framework, an attempt to standardise federal lab design across sites rather than bespoke every campus, and one whose success or failure will shape the remaining programme. And the Indigenous Participation Plans attached to the design and construction management contracts carry a combined value of up to CAD 94.76 million flowing to Indigenous businesses and communities, a figure PSPC publishes but which went unmentioned in most coverage of the award. The site sits on the unceded territory of the Anishinàbe Algonquin People, and a site blessing ceremony with an Anishinàbe Algonquin Elder was held in October 2024.
Ottawa has also framed the build under a Buy Canadian procurement approach, prioritising Canadian steel, wood products, aluminium and services where possible.
How RSS Main Compares to the Rest of the Laboratories Canada Programme
RSS Main is one of several campuses being delivered under Laboratories Canada, the federal science infrastructure strategy launched with CAD 2.8 billion in Budget 2018 and now described by government as a CAD 3.8 billion initiative.
The useful comparison is the Atlantic Science Enterprise Centre in Moncton, the programme’s flagship in Atlantic Canada. ASEC carries a CAD 600 million total investment, is built by Pomerleau, and will house more than 700 scientists from five federal bodies when it reaches full occupancy in 2032.
Run the arithmetic and the contrast is stark. ASEC works out at roughly CAD 860,000 of capital per scientist accommodated. RSS Main Component 1, at CAD 1.05 billion for 275 scientists, lands near CAD 3.8 million per scientist, more than four times the Moncton figure. The comparison is not apples to apples, since ASEC blends laboratory space with a large office and collaboration component while RSS Main is dominated by regulatory and containment work, and RSS Main’s Component 1 delivers site infrastructure that later components will share. But the ratio is a fair indication of what containment-grade regulatory science costs to build in Canada in 2026, and it is a number worth holding onto as later components come forward for approval.
Federal science is not the only Canadian sector where public capital is chasing specialised facility construction. Provincial money has moved the same way at smaller scale, from the CAD 2.7 million Alberta grant that anchored GoodLeaf Farms’ Calgary vertical farm to the CAD 1.04 billion Ontario Place science centre now underway in Toronto. PCL itself has been a repeat beneficiary of the trend, having built out projects including the Travers solar plant in Alberta.
RSS Main Completion Date, Programme Slippage and Open Questions
The stated target is 2031 for Component 1 to be ready for scientists. Getting to the current award has already taken longer than planned.
PSPC’s June 2023 announcement expected construction on the RSS Main site to begin in 2025. The department’s own project page subsequently listed construction as commencing in autumn 2025 while simultaneously showing groundbreaking as expected in spring 2026, an inconsistency that survived the page’s December 2025 update. The construction services contract was in fact awarded in August 2026. On a generous reading that is a year of slippage between intended construction start and the award that enables it; the government’s framing is that preparatory site works, which began in November 2024, were always the intervening step.
Three questions remain open. The second half of the planned scope is not yet contracted, and no schedule or budget for it has been published. The cost reconciliation between the December 2023 ceiling and the August 2026 award is unexplained. And the NATO accounting is worth scrutiny: government says RSS Main will contribute approximately CAD 900 million toward Canada’s NATO-related security and resilience spending over the next decade, counting construction, operations and personnel costs together, which is a broader basis than the construction figure alone.
For the wider economy, PSPC points to Canada’s agriculture and food industries as the beneficiary, a sector it says supports over two million jobs and contributes around CAD 150 billion to GDP annually.
Project Fact Sheet
- Project Name: Regulatory and Security Science Main (RSS Main)
- Location: 3851 Fallowfield Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- Component 1 Value: CAD 1.05 billion, per PSPC’s project page
- Construction Services Contract: CAD 768.6 million, awarded 10 August 2026
- Design Contract: CAD 60.2 million including taxes, awarded December 2023
- Client / Owner: Public Services and Procurement Canada, under the Laboratories Canada strategy
- Key Components: Six science facilities replacing at least seven ageing federal laboratories
- Capacity: Approximately 275 scientists from four federal departments and agencies
- Procurement Model: Construction management services, delivered under Laboratories Canada’s Repeatable Laboratory Design Framework, with a Buy Canadian sourcing approach
- Indigenous Participation: Up to CAD 94.76 million including taxes flowing to Indigenous businesses and communities across the design and construction management contracts
- Preparatory Site Works: Began November 2024
- Expected Completion: 2031 for Component 1
- Sustainability: Net-zero carbon-ready, ground-source heating and heat recovery, targeting LEED and Fitwel certification
Project Team
- Client / Owner: Public Services and Procurement Canada
- Programme: Laboratories Canada
- Construction Services: PCL Construction Canada Inc.
- Architecture and Engineering: Provencher Roy Associés Architectes and Perkins&Will Canada, joint venture
- Occupying Agencies: Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Canada Border Services Agency, Health Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada
- Indigenous Partner Engagement: Anishinàbe Algonquin Nation
- Remaining Components: Not yet awarded
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is building the RSS Main science hub in Ottawa? PCL Construction Canada Inc. holds the CAD 768.6 million construction services contract awarded on 10 August 2026. Design is by a Provencher Roy and Perkins&Will Canada joint venture, appointed in December 2023.
When will the RSS Main project be completed? Component 1 is expected to be ready for scientists in 2031. Later components covering the remaining half of the planned scope have not yet been contracted or scheduled.
How much does the RSS Main project cost? Component 1 carries a value of CAD 1.05 billion according to PSPC, of which the PCL construction services contract accounts for CAD 768.6 million. The full campus scope is roughly double Component 1.
Where is the RSS Main campus located? At 3851 Fallowfield Road in the Nepean area of Ottawa, on the grounds of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s existing Ottawa laboratory, on the unceded territory of the Anishinàbe Algonquin People.
Leave a Reply