The Canadian Canoe Museum (CCM) has taken significant strides toward starting construction of its new museum.

On September 22, it announced the purchase of property on Ashburnham Drive in Peterborough from the City of Peterborough. The sale of the five-acre parcel, which is known as the Johnson Property, was subject to a number of conditions including rezoning, project validation and confirmation of site appropriateness. With those conditions met, the CCM was able to pay $1.575 million for the land.

CCM also announced that it had signed a CCDC30 Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) contract with Chandos Construction Ltd. and Lett Architects Inc. The agreement, which is valued at a little over $27.3 million, allows for the commencement of design services and construction work associated with the building of the new museum on the Johnson Property.

The building is slated for completion in 2023.

“Canadian Canoe Museum is thrilled to have completed these critical milestones so that we may commence with construction as planned in October,” said CCM executive director Carolyn. “Our project team is working at lightning speed to stay on schedule so that we may be ready to open the new museum in 2023.”

The new museum will enable CCM to house its entire collection in a building that meets Class A conservation standards, directly on the water, which allows for increased on-water and in-person programming while being a key cultural tourism driver in what will become a vibrant community hub on the Peterborough waterfront.

The Johnson Property is situated on Little Lake, north of Beavermead Park and south of the Parks Canada-Trent Severn Waterway head offices. The new canoe museum will be built on a flat portion of the property, away from the floodplain, on the open land along Ashburnham Drive to preserve the existing trail, shoreline and natural waterfront.

Supporting Chandos Lett Architects are structural engineers LEA from Markham, mechanical contractors Kelson Mechanical from Sharon, mechanical and electrical engineers DG Biddle & Associates from Oshawa, electrical contractors Lancer Electric from Peterborough, and civil engineers Engage Engineering from Peterborough.

Featured image: Artist’s rendering of the new Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough. (Canadian Canoe Museum)