Protecting Nanaimo’s Heritage

2011 marks the one year restoration anniversary of the Bastion. Built circa 1853, the Bastion is comprised of heavy timber Western Red Cedar and Douglas Fir posts and wall beams.  Due to the rugged west coast rainforest climate, wood rot degradation has been an ongoing concern.  Wall logs, columns, interior beams, and other structural members have been replaced throughout the Bastion’s history, culminating in the latest repairs focused on correcting a significant and visible tilting of this tower structure due to wood rot of several column bases on one side.

A historic building and irreplaceable cultural icon, the Bastion requires sympathetic treatment to ensure its integrity, both physically and as a cultural resource.  As such, regular maintenance and minor repairs need to be facilitated and major restorations need to be mitigated.  As part of the restoration, RJC developed a straightforward yet innovative “rain shield” that will now lightly shroud the Bastion every winter season.  This simple and reversible treatment reflects RJC’s credo of “Innovative Thinking, Practical Results”.

REVIT provided an excellent opportunity to preview some of its capacities while providing the client value-added service. The model helped our client understand construction sequencing, provided visual access to individual components, layers, levels, or systems, and could be used as a back-up for the component label tracking.

RJC’s approach with restoring the Bastion has been recognized by Heritage BC with an Outstanding Achievement Award. This follows on an earlier award from the City of Nanaimo.

The Bastion is a unique building in its geographical area, if not on a larger scale, and the unveiling of century old construction practices and innovative connection design is wonderful to be part of.