On June 22, Past Presidents Greg Blanchard and David Peters joined NSGEU President Joan Jessome to break ground at the corner of Wright Avenue and John Savage Drive in Burnside, where the union's new home will soon stand.
The 58,000 sq.ft. building will house a state-of-the-art members' conference centre that will be able to accommodate meetings of up to 300. In honour of his contributions to the organization, the centre will be called the Gregory Blanchard Conference Centre.
The building will also include space to accommodate and support other member activities, including a hearing room, a videoconference facility and several other multi-purpose meeting rooms. Construction is slated to start later this month or early next.
"Workers coming together to discuss common cause is what NSGEU is all about," Jessome says. "We've experienced tremendous growth in membership over the past decade and this new building will give our members even more opportunity to meet one another and share their thoughts and ideas."
Members of the NSGEU board of directors, which is made up of 33 public sector workers from across the province, were also on-hand for the ceremony. The board has been considering the need for a new building for the last several years; last fall, it voted in favour of going forward with the project.
NSGEU has been at its current home on Eileen Stubbs Avenue in Burnside for 20 years.
