Stage Door News
Stage Door News
The City of St. Catharines will be looking at ways to pare down costs of the downtown performing arts centre.
On Monday night councillors voted to formally reject all bids received as part of the tender process to construct the facility after the bids from four pre-qualified bidders came in about $10 million above the city’s construction budget. The bids from four pre-approved general contractors ranged from $52.5 million to $59.9 million, well above the budgeted amount of $42.7 million. The later figure is for the above ground construction of the facility, which has a total budget of $60.7 million.
Now, it’s back to the drawing board for the city as it will look at a redesign of the project with the aim of reducing the price, but not the functionality of the facility. Diamond and Schmitt Architects Inc. will redesign the centre with the goal of retaining the quality of the four performance venues, maintaining back-of-house functionality and preserving seating capacity. This will be achieved, the city says, by replacing some fixtures and finishes with less expensive ones and cutting the overall size of the building.
“There are places we’ll find the efficiencies but it won’t be easy,” Coun. Mark Elliott, who has worked closely with the local user groups on the project, said Monday. “It’s going to be an arduous task to get there, but we can do it.”
Anticipated changes are expected to include making adjustments to some of the materials and aesthetics, such as using a simplified roof system in place of a three-tiered roof, using wood veneer in place of solid wood in some areas, using precast concrete instead of poured concrete and eliminating some of the windows and glass features. Allowances for furniture, fixtures and equipment will also be reduced. In terms of space, city staff say floor area can be cut by reducing the number of loading bays, cutting multipurpose room area and reducing the size of the lobby.
The redesign, however, comes at a cost in terms of timing. It is expected the process, which will include time to seek input from the public, will take about 12 to 16 weeks, meaning the city will retender in December or January 2013. They will be asking for two bids from pre-qualified firms, including one normal bid and one construction management bid that could result in a speedier construction period and better prices.
As for construction as a whole, it would push the start back to February 2013, and substantial completion would be pushed back from fall of 2014 to spring of 2015.
Coun. Mathew Siscoe tried to hold off just a little longer on Monday night, asking to defer a decision until councillors had more time to pore over the report. The staff report from CAO Colin Briggs had been released just hours before the meeting and some councillors didn’t have an opportunity to review it until minutes before the meeting. That, however, was not agreed upon by council members.
Council did have a brief closed session after Coun. Matthew Harris started to question staff about who was to blame for the ballooning cost. He particularly questioned why the cost consultant would be brought back on board, but Briggs refused to answer in open session.
Briggs explained during the meeting that the architects, Diamond & Schmitt, and the city’s cost consultant, Turner & Townsend cm2r, will not be paid additional funds for the redesign work. Turner & Townsend cm2r will actually be paying for a peer review of its costing of the redesign. In his staff report he also said Turner & Townsend cm2r is a “respected cost consultancy firm” which has provided accurate cost estimates for other performing arts centres designed by Diamond and Schmitt. The city, architect, and project managers could not have predicted this outcome, said Briggs, especially since recent tenders issued by the city in the spring had come in lower than estimates.
Briggs did note that tendering in December or January in past years has provided favourable pricing on tenders, so there could be a benefit by retendering at that time.
Mayor Brian McMullan said the process has been a learning one for council, and “a lot of information has been gleaned from the process” by the city. He upheld the importance of the project, but stressed the city needs to complete it in a “fiscally responsible” way.
“We fully realize the important of this to the community and to Brock University,” he said. “It’s a one-of-a-kind project in Canada — a unique project.”
By Scott Rosts for www.niagrarathisweek.com.
Photo: Artist’s rendering of one submission.
2012-08-29
St. Catherines: City Council rejects all bids for Arts Centre