Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question.
I'm Jennifer Garrett, with Public Services and Procurement Canada. I'm the new acting assistant deputy minister accountable for the work we're doing on the long-term vision and plan for the precinct.
Let me start by saying that I want to assure you in terms of your concern that absolutely our intent is to protect the heritage. We've done extensive studies of the heritage of the building and we want to respect it, but we understand the direction that came from the board on that matter and we're taking that and applying it to all of the Pearson special rooms, and in fact the entire building.
When those integrated design concepts for those rooms are ready to come forward, you'll be able to see them at some point in this forum and see how that heritage architecture is being maintained and how those modernizations are being delicately put into the building. At this point in time, I think we're in a really good position in protecting and respecting the heritage nature of the building.
The chambers and the committee rooms will largely return to looking very much the same as they did before, as an example. What we are trying to do, though, is make sure that as Parliament needs to be modernized and as modernizations need to happen to support the working building, we are doing those modernizations in a delicate fashion.
This board will see those modernizations as they come forward room by room as architectural concepts, and you'll get your chance to give us feedback before the design is finalized. We are taking special care to make sure that those delicate interventions are being done.
I would just say one final thing, which is that one of the most fascinating aspects of the project to date is having the opportunity to see how the building has evolved with time. In fact, there is something that we call “unsympathetic change” in the heritage world. These are beautiful heritage features that might have been original to the building but have been covered up with paint or other plaster aspects over time. We've uncovered those, and as we bring those rooms forward, you'll see what we've discovered and how we propose to actually reintegrate some original features back into the building.
Hopefully that answers the question.