But there was evidence of positive change yesterday. A groundbreaking ceremony for a new federal research laboratory at McMaster Innovation Park -- once the site of a Camco appliance factory -- represented meaningful action in the long and often painful transformation of Hamilton's economic base.

"Especially now, with the downturn in the economy, to have new construction and new employees coming is critically important," said Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger.

The $60-million CANMET Materials Technology Laboratory -- including an estimated $46 million in construction costs -- is to be built to modern environmental standards, including extensive solar panels and radiant floor heating.

McMaster Innovation Park will own the building and lease it to the federal government. Full excavation is to start in the next few weeks, with construction to begin in March.

The laboratory will dominate the corner of Longwood Road South and Frid Street, once Frid is extended to Longwood. Starting in mid-2010, more than 100 scientists and technicians are to work there, developing new materials for uses ranging from cars to pipelines.

The CANMET laboratory -- established during the Second World War for metals research -- is moving from Ottawa to what federal Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt described yesterday as a natural home in Hamilton.

"It builds on what Hamilton knows," she said. "It knows steel. It knows metal. It knows how to work with them."

The lab's presence at McMaster Innovation Park is expected to act as a magnet for other private, government and academic partners involved in research, and to spur partnerships with the university itself, less than two kilometres away.

"Together we will provide the country, perhaps the world, with the best-educated, highly skilled workforce with a focus on industrially relevant research," said McMaster president Peter George.

whemsworth@thespec.com