Municipal Services Relocation

In November 2023, Council directed staff to initiate the development of the Cultural Hub at Tom Davies Square. This project will establish a nationally significant venue for arts, culture, technology and innovation. It includes the construction of a new central library, Category A art gallery and multicultural association at 200 Brady and 199 Larch.

As part of the Cultural Hub project, staff will be relocating to 199 Larch, previously known as the Provincial Tower. There are a number of moving parts to this project, and we want to share some of the upcoming changes and how you can prepare for them. Please see the updated FAQs on the right side of this page. If you have additional questions, post them below and the project team will respond.

Municipal File Relocation

The municipal file relocation project will relocate all physical files from 199 Larch and Tom Davies Square as part of the Modern Workplace Efficiencies project. It will facilitate the relocation of staff and help maximize square footage by minimizing the need for physical storage of paper.

The files will be relocated to Iron Mountain, a Toronto-based company that specializes in information management and storage services. Iron Mountain offers a range of services including requesting hardcopy files and digitizing files on demand.

The project team is working with divisions to provide large blue bins on each floor for staff to start purging their paper files. To support staff during this process, there are two upcoming engagement opportunities:

1. Iron Mountain Information and Engagement Sessions

The project team is working with Iron Mountain to schedule sessions to help staff better understand their process for organizing and physically relocating files to their offsite location. They will cover their classification system, how they will label the boxes, and how staff will be able to access files located offsite in the future.
More information on these sessions will be shared soon.

2. By- Law Retention Information and Training Session

In October 2024, City Council passed By-law 2024-156 which permits hard copy original records to be destroyed once digitized following the Document Digitization Standard.
Training sessions will be held on March 20 and 25 from 11 a.m. to noon in the Council Chamber. Please visit LMS to register! For those unable to attend in person, a module will be available on LMS following the training sessions.

Municipal File Relocation

1. Iron Mountain Information and Engagement Sessions

The project team is working with Iron Mountain to schedule sessions to help staff better understand their process for organizing and physically relocating files to their offsite location. They will cover their classification system, how they will label the boxes, and how staff will be able to access files located offsite in the future.
More information on these sessions will be shared soon.

2. By- Law Retention Information and Training Session

In October 2024, City Council passed By-law 2024-156 which permits hard copy original records to be destroyed once digitized following the Document Digitization Standard.
Training sessions will be held on March 20 and 25 from 11 a.m. to noon in the Council Chamber. Please visit LMS to register! For those unable to attend in person, a module will be available on LMS following the training sessions.

Ask Us!

We will share more information as plans become more defined. In the meantime, let us know what questions you have by posting them below and we will get back to you shortly!

With the new event center taking up some of the existing downtown parking, as well as the addition of more people coming downtown with the cultural hub/municipal re-location, what are the plans for parking? Specifically where are staff expected to park?

. asked 11 days ago

The construction of the Event Centre will indeed change where some City staff currently park. We are currently updating our current parking studies to understand and address evolving parking needs downtown, including accessible parking. This update includes the needs of Tom Davies Square, the event centre, and existing and future market conditions such as development opportunity. The results of these ongoing studies will determine how to accommodate the parking need of the downtown during regular business hours, game nights and events during the day, evening or weekend.
When the Event Centre is built, it will use the same dispersed parking model as the Sudbury Community Arena, with parking spread out across multiple smaller lots and street spaces, so there will continue to be many options for staff parking. We will share more information as we finalize details of reallocating parking.
Which floors will be occupied by the staff at Tom Davies square?

KL asked 14 days ago

The project is in design development, and the final details of staff relocation have not yet been determined. Some municipal staff will be moving into vacant space within the 199 Larch Street tower.
Is there a plan in place for the elevator's for staff use? i.e: Separate use for public and staff for safety reasons?

KL asked about 1 month ago

The elevators in 199 Larch are currently being replaced. The new elevators will have enhanced levels of security with cameras and RFID card readers. Access levels to various floors will be restricted. The operation of the elevators will be reviewed for security with design. Security within the facility is and will remain a top priority.
Are you considering the possibility of a staff- only elevator to ensure staff safety?

I asked about 1 month ago

The elevators in 199 Larch are currently being replaced. The new elevators will have enhanced levels of security with cameras and RFID card readers. Access levels to various floors will be restricted. The operation of the elevators will be reviewed for security with design. Security within the facility is and will remain a top priority.
Will Tom Davies staff be required to work from home for a period of time during construction? If so, for how long and when would that begin?

KL asked about 1 month ago

There will be space available for staff to work out of Tom Davies Square during construction. However, the Remote Work Policy remains an option for many staff members. Please speak with your manager or supervisor regarding remote vs. in-office work.
Currently there is a request for proposal to retain a construction manager (CM) posted for the Cultural Hub project. Scheduling will be confirmed once a CM is retained. The project is targeting early investigative construction work beginning in the summer of 2025.
A suggestion - with all the hanging file folders that are in the building, could the team reach out to the high schools to see about getting some students to come in for their volunteer hours to pull the metal bars from the hanging file folders? Might be better than sending them all to the dump ....

Kelly asked about 1 month ago

Thank you for the suggestion, the project team will reach out to HR to discuss coordinating volunteer opportunities.
Is it being taken into consideration that we have front-facing Building Services staff located on the first floor of TDS? With the newly constructed one-stop-shop, I don't see the staff being moved from this location. However, if Building Services moves to the Provincial Tower, and our front-facing staff remain where they are, this poses some concern regarding customer service. If they need someone from Planning, Technical Services or Building Services to come down, it could take awhile depending on the elevator traffic in the Provincial Tower. Also, if we need to run down to see the one-stop-shop multiple times per day, this is a huge time waster, considering we have 0 seconds to lose in our busy days, especially during construction season. Just a thought.

Rebecca Armstrong asked 11 months ago

Thank you for your question. Yes, this has been taken into consideration. The intention is for the municipal One-Stop Shop to remain operational in its current location. There will be further and ongoing engagement with municipal staff to discuss working locations, design and technology to facilitate service delivery as the project progresses.
Hi there! I missed the boat to vote on work spaces and collaboration spaces. Assuming my thoughts are still valuable to you, I would prefer option c (private cubicle) for the workspaces and option B for the collaboration spaces (semi private booth). I find open office spaces distracting. Take care!

matthews.shann asked 12 months ago

Thank you for the response, it has been added to the survey responses.

Page last updated: 18 Mar 2025, 08:59 AM

Municipal Services Relocation

Ask Us!

With the new event center taking up some of the existing downtown parking, as well as the addition of more people coming downtown with the cultural hub/municipal re-location, what are the plans for parking? Specifically where are staff expected to park?

Which floors will be occupied by the staff at Tom Davies square?

Is there a plan in place for the elevator's for staff use? i.e: Separate use for public and staff for safety reasons?

Are you considering the possibility of a staff- only elevator to ensure staff safety?

Will Tom Davies staff be required to work from home for a period of time during construction? If so, for how long and when would that begin?

A suggestion - with all the hanging file folders that are in the building, could the team reach out to the high schools to see about getting some students to come in for their volunteer hours to pull the metal bars from the hanging file folders? Might be better than sending them all to the dump ....

Hi there! I missed the boat to vote on work spaces and collaboration spaces. Assuming my thoughts are still valuable to you, I would prefer option c (private cubicle) for the workspaces and option B for the collaboration spaces (semi private booth). I find open office spaces distracting. Take care!

Who's Listening

FAQs

Key Dates