As we are approaching the completion of the building capacity project we are seeing a lot of things changing very quickly.
February saw the removal of the old equipment in the Fire Pump Room, and the installation of the new.
The new Fire pump controller incorporates a transfer switch allowing the generator to power the fire pump during a power failure and is a fraction the size of the old controller.
Some of the old piping in the pump room was tested and reused other sections were added to the museum collection.
The new Pump is 60 Horse Power and capable of pumping 500 US Gallons/ min at 130 PSI.

Listen to CBC's Kate Porter as she tours the Bunker with Executive Director Alexandra Badzak and learns about the museum's capacity project.

Part of what we had to get done to accomodate the beginning phase of the renovation was to relocate the Cold War Store into a new part of the building - The Allard Gallery. Fortunatley the new store looks great and the response has been very positive. From this we can determine that the New New store, which will be housed in a rejuvenated and redesigned original location, will be even better! As always we look forward to your suggestions as to what unique and interesting Cold War or Diefenbunker toys, books, posters, clothing, etc. that you may like to see us supply. The New New Store is scheduled to open by mid-December.


The expansion of the museum will also mean the expansion of our inventory to include more books and collectables. Our store inventory will also be heading online so people may shop for some of the Diefenbunker exclusive items from home and abroad.

The building capacity project will allow us to truly fulfill our mandate by producing more opportunities for the general public and stakeholders to connect to our museum. Once we can allow 500 people in the building at any given time, our ability to mount exhibitions, special events, performances, research activity and educational
programs will dramatically increase. Our collection and preservation activities will also be increased. Specifically and most importanly, once the Diefenbunker is up to full occupancy we will be able to open the museum for self-guided tours. Currently, the public can only access the museum through a guided tour once per day during the week and four times daily on the weekend. Guided tours are necessary, as it is the only way that the museum can restrict visitorship to 60 people at any given time. We are not able to add more guided tours because of limitation on volunteer hours and costs associated with hiring more student guides.

The occupancy issue severely restricts the growth and development of curatorial programming, in that it makes no sense to develop exhibitions and re-creations for an audience that can only access it through a time-burdened tour. Once this issue is resolved, we can change its public hours of operation, allowing visitors to spend as little or as much time on independent viewing as they choose, as well as having the option of taking one of our specialized tours. We would expect to see a dramatic increase in its general attendance figure as a consequence of this project,which will result in an increase of revenue. Public and event-based programming will also be enhanced by this project. The Diefenbunker will develop lectures, symposiums, theatrical andmusical performances, as well as corporate and community functions and fundraising dinners and dances for the general public.We will endeavour to increase financial independence by offering corporate and private rentals of space for a fee. Potentially, we could increase our visitor numbers by 800% as a result of this ability to house more people in the building. Realisitically, we are projecting more modest numbers—50% in the five years following project completion. Increased attendance will result in increased revenue, which will in turn increase budgets for marketing, exhibitions and public programming events which we will host and organize. Facility rentals are also expected to increase by at least 25%. All revenue from non-museumrelated activity will be directed back to exhibitions, conservation and programs. This retrofit project will allow the Diefenbunker to become a fully functioning museum.This relatively modest renovation project is necessary for any future growth in the organization.

After weeks of closing our doors to begin our capacity expansion project, we are back!

During those 2 weeks some exciting changes have begun around the bunker including:

• The opening of the new yet temporary location of our Cold War Store which will serve us will be build and install our "real" new one to be open by Christmas.
• The start of renovation and retrofit of our exit and fire safety system which will see our visitor capacity rise from the current 60 to a whopping 500 visitors by summer 2010!
• A much needed overhaul to the administration offices for the 2 new permanent staff members: Christine Mcguire (Education & Volunteer manager) and Eric Espig (Programs and Public Relations Manager)
• Wonderfully creative and exciting projects born from our brainstorming sessions on how we may accommodate all of the future new visitors to the Bunker!