Built between 1858 and 1860, Saint-Jacques Church on Sainte-Catherine Street became the property of UQAM in 1973, which then decided to integrate it into the construction of the new Judith-Jasmin Building in 1979. For this purpose, the church had to be partially demolished in 1975, leaving only the bell tower and the south transept, and thereby giving the building its present form.
This bell tower restoration project came at a time when it had not undergone any major restoration since 1933, when the church fell prey to a huge fire that nevertheless left the bell tower intact. In addition to repairing the façade masonry, the work also included excavating and installing a new drainage system, repairing the concrete buttresses and a general consolidation of the bell tower structure through various interventions at different levels of the structure.
For this project, NCK provided complete structural engineering consulting services.