Construction of a new Nova Chemicals polyethylene production facility on Rokeby Line in St. Clair Township is now 65 per cent complete, says the company.

The new plant – part of a $2.5-billion investment by Nova Chemicals – includes an expansion of its Corunna site next door.

The company said 1,800 construction workers are currently on the site, and the startup of both the new plant and expanded Corunna site is currently expected to begin in late 2022.

Work on the expansion began in late 2017 and has continued through the pandemic, although it has had an impact.

“Early on, we did elect to defer the Corunna turnaround into next year,” said Rob Thompson, vice-president of manufacturing. That turnaround is an “enabling event” for the startup of the new Rokeby facility, he said.

“It’s a massive project,” with 1,800 construction workers on site each day, Thompson said about the ongoing construction.

“The pandemic offered challenges to us in terms of making sure their health and safety was protected,” he said. “We needed to develop a number of site practices and protocols to keep them safe, and keep the project progressing.”

He gave credit to the “world-class workforce” in Sarnia-Lambton, along with the project team, construction unions and contractors in the community for the success of balancing the impact of the pandemic.

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