‘Enormous’ impact on local economy expected from defence research facility

Posted on November 12, 2026 by Ryan Dahlman

By Brendan Miller
Southern Alberta Newspapers

Construction of a brand new, one-of-a-kind laboratory facility for Defence Research Development Canada at CFB Suffield is expected to produce a large economic ripple throughout the region, according to developers.

“Without trying not to understate this, the project is going to produce enormous economic growth for the region,” said Micheal Horobec, general superintendent with EllisDon, during a large-scale Defence Growth Forum held Oct. 29-30 at the Medicine Hat Lodge.

Horobec says the $750-million research facility will require a workforce of more than 500 skilled workers throughout a construction period expected to last roughly five years.

“This includes carpenters, iron workers, welders, electricians, botanicals, drywall, painters, flooring, everybody,” said Horobec. “But beyond those craft workers that are going to be working closely on site, we’re also going to be closely working with people outside the fence line.”

Horobec says this includes local businesses, hotels, restaurants, service providers and landlords.

“I look forward to making some connections here and really being able to utilize that because, quite frankly, this project will not succeed without the local community, businesses and people.”

Horobec joined team member and construction manager with EllisDon, Shawn Storozhenko, to attend the two-day Defence Growth Forum and speak about the unique research facility that will focus on chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence, as well as personal protective equipment testing, medical response, blast dynamics and autonomous military technologies.

EllisDon is a large-scale construction company that is also the manager of the Fourth Avenue Flyover Bridge rehabilitation project in Calgary and the Peter Gilgan Mississauga Hospital and Shah Family Hospital for Women and Children in Ontario.

Construction for the facility, which is said to be the only of its kind among NATO member states, is expected to start next October and will be complete and operational in 2032.

The $752-million investment was announced in January 2025 and is part of an $8-billion investment in defence infrastructure in Alberta as the country looks to allocate more than $163 billion toward military spending by 2025, accelerating its path to meet a NATO spending GDP benchmark of five per cent.

“Due to the size of the project we’re anticipating that it’s going to draw a lot of local interest, but also interest from surrounding communities and companies and businesses across the province and Western Canada,” said Storozhenko. “When it comes to a lot of the materials for the building, whether it be structural steel, curtain wall systems, metal paneling, anything like that, we could see manufacturers and suppliers coming from overseas or even south of the border. It’s going to be supported across Canada, but also overseas and beyond.”

The unique aspect of the new 37,000 square-metre laboratory, to be built on the east side of Highway 884 at CFB Suffield, is the facility will integrate into one place a number of chemical, biological research capacities that many NATO allies already use.

“So it’s going to be something that’s significantly unique and it’s going to provide for some synergies as we look at the actual measures taken to counter the threat environment,” explained Hugh Atwell, centre director of Suffield Research Centre. “So it’s also the case that, you know, adversaries will look to explore different types of vulnerabilities and means of attack, and they will do that in concert, combining those to effect.

“By having that sort of integration, it will provide a better ability to actually design the solutions that will help Canada defeat those threats.”

“The infrastructure being built is going to be world class, probably be unique on the globe and it’s going to be an incredible facility” said Lt. Col Michael Onenin, base commander of CFB Suffield.

Design is expected to reach tender-ready construction documents by the end of 2027, and procurement is expected in Q2 of 2027.

The design of the facility evolved to a compact X-like layout and will have extensive civil works, concrete and structural steel, sanitary laboratory spaces, a support building and meeting spaces, and is said to be of world-class modern design.

The overall site is 82 acres and will require a small boundary extension of CFB Suffield to accommodate.

“It’s a large, large area to manage,” said Storozhenko. “Once we do get into construction out in the field, it’ll involve about 170,000 cubic metres of earthworks, there’s 33,000 metres of concrete for the structure and 1,300 tonnes of structural steel.”

Along with the new laboratory facility, CFB Suffield continues to seek a range of options to scale up operations as more defence funding becomes available, including expansion of testing and evaluation activities that could be vital for future national protection.

“Being able to demonstrate from an industry sense that your platforms can operate and indeed thrive in that type of environment to produce the military capability, and the effects that are required, is something that is necessary to position Canadian industry not just to be able to demonstrate the ability of the products for the Canadian Armed Forces, but also for allied militaries as well,” said Atwell.