The campus, located at the intersection of Carling Avenue and Moodie Drive, consists of 11 interconnected buildings with a total of 207,000 square metres (2,230,000 sq ft) of space.

[4][5] The property was acquired by Public Works and Government Services Canada from its original tenant, Nortel, in December 2010, and now houses National Defence Headquarters.

[7] To accommodate this growth, an expansion project was undertaken in 1997, based on a new campus master plan and an expedited, harmonized development approval process.

[12] After Nortel went bankrupt in 2009, its research divisions were sold to Avaya, Ciena, Ericsson, and Genband, while the real estate property was purchased by Public Works and Government Services Canada for CDN$208 million.

[6] In 2013, it was reported that electronic eavesdropping devices were found at the Carling Campus, and that Nortel had been the target of industrial espionage for nearly a decade before its bankruptcy.