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The new headquarters for the Department of National Defence at 60 Moodie Drive is finally acquiring some critical mass following the shift of some 3,500 employees from other locations across the region.

This represents the first of three phases that will eventually see 8,500 of the department’s 16,000 local civilian and military personnel move to the former Nortel Networks campus.

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Nearly a decade in development, the $800 million project is running 21 months late. DND also confirmed Tuesday that the target for completing all three phases is now March 31, 2020 – one year later than previously acknowledged. And that’s assuming everything goes smoothly from now on.

Photo by Julie Oliver / Postmedia

This assumption might be a stretch. The first phase of the move, which includes human resources and other back office employees, involved buildings 6 through 9 – former Nortel labs that were among the most modern on the 370-acre campus. Construction crews encountered some difficulties in getting the facilities ready for occupation – such as defective windows that needed replacing. But the work was relatively straightforward.