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The Thunder Bay Police Board continues to support the construction of a new headquarters for the service.

It came in a resolution voted on by the boards sole vote, Administrator Malcolm Mercer.

The reaffirmation for a new facility comes following a presentation from Form Architects, on a needs assessment of the current Balmoral Street HQ.

In the presentation it was noted just to bring the building up to standard with Ontario’s Building Code, would have a capital cost $10 million.

Alternatively a renovation and addition would cost almost $64 million, but it would disrupt operations and is constrained by the both the existing structure and expansion potential.

A new build comes with a price tag of a little over $52 million, making it not only the most cost efficient, but from a perspective of looking to the future of the service the most effective for meeting its infrastructure needs.

This option would also require the acquisition of new land to build.

It should be noted the dollar figures presented are from 2020 and Form Architects has a key assumption of a cost escalation of 3 percent per year.