L3 Wescam breaks ground on new headquarters in Waterdown

One of Hamilton-Burlington’s larger employers is staying in the area.

L3 Wescam broke ground Tuesday morning on its new 330,000-square-foot headquarters which are scheduled to open in 2021 near Clappison’s Corners in Waterdown.

The company, which is a leader in aerospace, homeland security and defence technologies, will be consolidating its two Burlington locations.

More than 1,200 L3 Wescam employees are expected to be working out of the new facility when it opens in two years.

Flamborough Coun. Judi Partridge believes the company chose to stay in the area for a number of reasons including quick access to the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), 401 and 403 highways and two nearby airports in Hamilton and Toronto.

Partridge also stresses “we were very close to losing them out of the area” and she credits a lot of people with working incredibly hard over the past two years to ensure that didn’t happen.

Wescam’s roots date back to 1957 in Hamilton when Westinghouse engineers developed a stabilized camera system for surveillance operations.

Jeff Miller, corporate senior vice-president at L3 Technologies, says the company remains committed to “making the world a safer place,” whether that’s helping law enforcement track down and capture criminals or protecting soldiers around the world.