The new police headquarters on Albert Street is really starting to take shape.

The Director of Special Projects gave an update to Moncton City Council this week.

Sherry Trenholm says the $57.2 million project is around 40 percent complete, “The west wing of the building is completely erected, with the stairs going into place and the east wing will be next. It has moved quickly, just the last two weeks.”

She says one of the most common questions she still gets is asking where the building is located, “It’s at 199 Albert Street. It has an emergency exit road right now that is being constructed but not completed onto Vaughn Harvey that would only be used for emergency purposes. It’s directly behind the Shoppers Drug Mart on Vaughn Harvey.

It’s a two-storey building and the size is 82, 813 square feet. There will be 376 civilian staff and sworn officers in the building, and it has a 25-year life expectancy. The City of Moncton will own the building, but construction is being cost-shared across three municipalities. Moncton is contributing 70 percent, Dieppe provided 18 percent and the Town of Riverview at 12 percent.

The construction is expected to be completed by January 2025 with full occupancy by the summer of 2025.

The Operations training centre that is currently located in Dieppe will be relocated to Albert Street once the new headquarters opens.

Trenholm says construction is actually a bit behind schedule because of some of the challenges they experienced in the winter months, but they are hoping to make up some of the time during the summer months and get closer to the original schedule.

Some of the next steps in the project include a search for Indigenous artists to do an exterior art piece, with a cost of up to $200, 000.