National Defence to move 8,500 workers to ex-Nortel campus

The federal government is sharing details of a six-year plan to consolidate Department of National Defence headquarters in the capital region, including at the former Nortel campus, while continuing to defend its security.

At a technical briefing for reporters in Ottawa Friday afternoon, senior government officials said their headquarters would be set up in seven major locations in Ottawa-Gatineau by 2020, down from the 47 locations they're working from now.

The complex on Ottawa's Carling Avenue, which was Nortel'smain research and development centre until its 2009 bankruptcy, will receive its first3,300 National Defence employees in late 2015, officials said.

• Feds to buy Nortel's Ottawa campus

Approximately 8,500 military and civilian employees will work there once the six-year move is complete around the beginning of 2020.

National Defence employs over 14,000 people in the capital region, according to the officials at the briefing.

Long-term savings outweigh moving costs

Officials said many of their current 47 workplaces in the capital region are in commerciallyleased spaces spread out across both cities.

By the time the consolidation is complete, officials said, there will be three major locations in Ottawa theCarlingAvenue campus, one in the city's downtown (not necessarily thecurrent headquarters behind theRideauCentre) and one on Star Top Road in the east end.

The other fourGatineaulocations will be onHteldeVilleStreet in the Hull sector,Sacr-CurStreet in the west end, 455CarrireBlvd. near Casino LacLeamyand onCitdesJeunesin the north end.

That does not include the various Canadian Forces reserve, special forces or other facilities around the region, only the headquarters.

These moves will come at a cost of $755 million, breaking down to $208 million for the purchase of the Nortel campus, $506 million for refitting and transition costs of $41 million.

Officials said the moveshouldsavemore than $750 million over the next 25 years, for the most part from leasingfewer buildings.

Officials said they had been looking for these major locations since 2008. It was announced National Defence would be buying the former Nortel campus in the fall of 2010.

Full security sweep to be done

Officials repeated thatbugs or listening devices had not been found in the former Nortel building, as they had said after theOttawa Citizenpublished a report that workers preparing for the move had located some.

However, officials said National Defence hasn't swept the building for such devices and is only able to say it hasn't found any from "limited" checks ahead of conferences or meetingsheld there.

They said they'll make sure the building is safe and secure before themove, but couldn't disclose specific ways of doing so.

A former senior Nortel security advisertold CBC News in October 2012 he believed Chinese telecommunications company Huawei had been hacking into Nortel's systems for a competitive advantage for 10 years.

• Nortel hit by suspected Chinese cyberattacks for a decade
• Former Nortel exec warns against working with Huawei

Officials said it's been widely reportedthat Nortel had problems with corporate espionage, but reiterated they're taking the "necessary security precautions."