A Request for Qualifications has been issued by the provincial government for business teams interested in designing, building financing and maintaining the facility to replace Her Majesty’s Penitentiary under a so-called P-3 model.

Calls have been made for decades to replace the outdated facility. Parts of the building date to the mid-1800s.

The province says the new correctional facility will more than double the capacity of the existing Penitentiary.

A Request for Proposals is expected to be issued in early 2021. Government says it’s hoped construction can start in 2022 with completion in 2024-25.