Structural assessment in Quebec City

Four centuries of Quebec City buildings and what they mean for concrete

The Old Québec heritage site covers about 135 hectares and has nearly 1,400 buildings built from the 17th century onward, divided between the Upper Town, on the Cap Diamant promontory, and the Lower Town, between the cliff, the Saint-Charles River and the St. Lawrence. Its fortifications encircle the Upper Town for more than four kilometres, UNESCO inscribed it on the World Heritage List in 1985, and 470 archaeological sites are known there. The Répertoire du patrimoine culturel also notes that its enhancement, after 1960, came with several historical reconstructions.

Around the historic centre, La Cité-Limoilou lines up postwar houses, narrow working-class faubourgs and three-storey brick buildings with wrought-iron stairs and balconies, along with an industrial zone to the east, around avenue D’Estimauville. In the heart of the city, the Les Rivières area only took on an urban character from the 1950s; it includes the Armand-Viau, Cardinal, Frontenac and Métrobec industrial parks and part of the Parc technologique du Québec métropolitain.

Beauport became a bedroom suburb during the 1960s and 1970s, while keeping a linear historic district of about six kilometres along avenue Royale. Charlesbourg, which became a suburb during the second half of the 20th century, retains the Trait-Carré, a star-shaped village designated a historic district in 1965.

In Old Québec, an element that looks old may come from a reconstruction carried out after 1960 and contain modern materials. Documenting its actual composition, for example whether reinforcement is present or the thickness of a wall, helps the engineer distinguish construction periods before reaching a conclusion. Since the area is a declared heritage site rich in archaeological remains, have the necessary permissions confirmed before planning additional tests or destructive probes.