PM’s residence to undergo major restoration

Key Takeaways:

• A national design-and-build competition open only to Canadian firms will completely rehabilitate the historic residence.
• The independent expert jury will select and announce the winning master design by July 1, 2027.
• The Rideau Hall Foundation will run a public donation campaign to fund construction, entirely blocking corporate money and enforcing a strict cap on individual donors.
• The finalized structure must balance strict heritage conservation with modern 21st-century requirements for accessibility, zero-carbon emissions, and high-level diplomatic security.

The Whole Story:

Prime Minister Mark Carney is getting a major home makeover and it will be built by Canadians.

The federal government will proceed with a comprehensive restoration of 24 Sussex Drive, utilizing an independent national design-and-build competition paired with a public fundraising campaign to limit taxpayer costs. The 35-room official residence, which has been entirely vacant since 2015 due to extreme structural decay and deferred maintenance, will be modernized into a secure, accessible, and environmentally sustainable working venue for future Canadian heads of government.

“Our government’s approach is clear: restore it responsibly, manage costs carefully, and ensure taxpayers get value for money. And we will make sure this is a Canadian project,” said Joël Lightbound, Minister of Government Transformation.

The competitive procurement process will be restricted exclusively to domestic architecture and engineering firms. The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) will oversee the administrative framework and assemble a seven-member independent jury to evaluate submissions. Chaired by globally renowned architect Moshe Safdie, the expert panel—including prominent designers such as Omar Gandhi, Brigitte Shim, and Carol Bélanger—will select a winning integrated design-and-construction blueprint to recommend to Cabinet by Canada Day, July 1, 2027. Prime Minister Carney declined to provide a preliminary capital budget, noting that competitive technical bids will establish the true baseline pricing.

To offset the public burden, the independent, non-partisan Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF) will spearhead a national philanthropic fundraising campaign intended to cover all or most of the project’s ultimate cost. The funding model enforces strict transparency guardrails: corporate donations are banned, contributions will be restricted solely to Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or registered domestic charities, and the comprehensive donor list will be made fully public. Individual donation caps are also under review, likely capped at a maximum of 10% of the overall funds raised, ensuring no single benefactor can exert outsized influence over the national landmark’s reconstruction.

While 24 Sussex Drive remains a designated Classified Federal Heritage Building, its lack of functional utility has forced a decade-long reshuffling of prime ministerial accommodations:

• 24 Sussex Drive: Historically the main official residence in Ottawa, the property is currently vacant. It has been entirely uninhabitable since 2015 due to hazardous materials, outdated wiring, and failing HVAC networks.
• Rideau Cottage: An auxiliary secondary property located on the grounds of Rideau Hall, this site is currently active and serving as the interim primary residence for Canadian prime ministers and their families.
• Harrington Lake: The official country retreat located in the Gatineau Hills, this property remains active and is retained as the prime minister’s secure rural escape and secondary working venue.

Built originally in 1868 by lumber baron Joseph Merrill Currier, the limestone-clad property overlooking the Ottawa River was formally acquired by the Crown in 1949, with Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent serving as its inaugural resident in 1951. The upcoming project will represent the first comprehensive structural intervention at the site in more than 75 years.