News

Oct 26, 2023

P.E.I. government spent $218,000 on Shaw Building light display

Province says the installation will be used to honour occasions such as

Province says the installation will be used to honour occasions such as Remembrance Day and Truth and Reconciliation Day

STORY CONTINUES BELOW THESE SALTWIRE VIDEOS

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The façade of the Shaw Building in Charlottetown was fitted with outdoor LED flood lights last September at a cost of almost $218,000 to P.E.I. taxpayers.

The LED lighting has provided a colour-changing display on the façade of the building along a stretch of Rochford Street to mark several occasions in the fall, such as Remembrance Day and National Truth and Reconciliation Day.

Victims of gender-based violence remembered in Summerside at service for National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

IN PICTURES: Hundreds gather for Remembrance Day 2022 in Charlottetown, Summerside after COVID-19 restrictions lift

The Shaw Building houses Premier Dennis King's office and the majority of provincial government offices. Nighttime foot and vehicle traffic near the building is far smaller than other downtown locations such as the waterfront or the corner of Grafton and Queen streets.

An email to SaltWire Network from representatives of the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure confirmed that Saint John, N.B., firm Ferro-Chemi-Crete Engineering Ltd. was contracted to complete the installation of the LED light display. The work's total cost was $217,921.

Transportation and Infrastructure senior communications representative April Gallant said the contract for the lighting work was publicly tendered. The bid from Ferro-Chemi-Crete Engineering was the least expensive.

Gallant said the LED light display has been used to "respond to requests from community groups and organizations for recognition, celebration or honouring of events."

"Since installation in September, some examples of use have included Truth and Reconciliation Day and the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women," Gallant said in an email to SaltWire Network.

"Previously, the province would have rented equipment to support these requests. For instance, as was done in remembrance of the N.S. mass casualty, gesture of support for the people of Ukraine and for National Organ and Tissue Donation awareness."

Plans included in the public tender for the contract showed two LED colour-changing floodlights installed on top of each of the 15 columns set into the front of the Shaw Building on Rochford Street.

Another 15 colour-changing floodlights around each of the two entrances were included in the plans.

Stu Neatby is a political reporter with the SaltWire Network in Prince Edward Island. He can be reached by email at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @stu_neatby.