The Federal Heritage Building Review Office

The Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ontario, Classified federal heritage buildings
© Parks Canada

Welcome

What do the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, the Cabot Tower in St. John's, the Grande-Allée Drill Hall in Québec, the Customs Examining Warehouse in Winnipeg, Point Atkinson Lighthouse in Vancouver and Auto Repair Shop at Bear Creek, Yukon have in common?

They are all buildings owned by the Government of Canada and they have all been designated as federal heritage buildings.

The primary objective of the Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office (FHBRO) is to assist federal government departments in the protection of their heritage buildings, in accordance with the Treasury Board Policy on Management of Real Property. The policy applies to all federal government departments which administer real property but not to Crown Corporations. This means, for example, that many post offices and all railway stations are not covered by the policy.

FHBRO evaluates all federal buildings 40 years of age or older in order to determine heritage character. It makes recommendations to the Minister of the Environment, who is responsible for approving the heritage designations of all Government of Canada buildings. Through this process, buildings are designated as either Classified, the higher level of designation, or Recognized, the second level.

FHBRO also provides advice to federal government departments that wish to make changes, or interventions, to a designated building, to ensure heritage character is protected.

The Government of Canada owns more than 40 000 buildings, of which, more than 20 000 have been evaluated and over 1300, or 3%, have been designated. These buildings are recorded in the Register of the Government of Canada Heritage Buildings, which is maintained by FHBRO.