The consequences of continued delays with the opening of the new Community Centre are beginning to manifest in various forms.
The Bowen Island Trunk Road facility, which will also be home to the new Municipal Hall, was originally slated to open around a year ago. Progress on multiple construction benchmarks has been missed since then however, and an estimated opening of August saw last month come and go without anyone save for construction workers regularly passing through the front doors.
“I don’t think anybody is pleased to see the Community Centre project drag on beyond this summer,” said chief financial officer Kristen Watson in an update to council on Sept. 9. “There are continuing project delays which unfortunately have now pushed the planned occupancy date to mid-October,” she said.
“It’s become a situation now that we have asked for regular weekly meetings with senior management of Signia to come and review weekly progress with us,” said the CFO regarding the construction company in charge of the build. Municipal staff have met with Signia staff multiple times on-site during the last few weeks.
“We do feel that they (Signia) are listening and trying to be responsive,” added Watson. “They were quite frank with us that they want to see the end of this project just as badly as we do.”
In addition to a year of missed community programming at the centre, the delays have also had a financial impact with the project now estimated to be around $200,000 to $300,000 over the original $18.7 million budget. Much of this is due to continued consulting fees with architect and project managers. Overall this would reflect an approximate one to two per cent increase to the project total.
Regarding whether any of the overrun could be recouped due to the delays, manager of recreation Gillian Drake said it was unlikely due to the absence of a liquidated damages clause in the building contract. “I don’t believe that is a clause in the contract right now. We’ve been advised that it’s very challenging to get those funds back after the fact,” said Drake.
Aside from the financial burden, a new problem is looming as the municipality’s tenancy at their current Artisan Lane location runs out at the end of October. “Given that 100 per cent of the deadlines for this project so far have been missed, the level of confidence from this seat about the end of October being firm is in question for me,” said Mayor Andrew Leonard.
“We are holding them very much accountable for any further schedule slippage because we do have that drop dead date for us of Oct. 31,” said Watson, explaining staff are “holding them (Signia) to task by being very diligent about requiring explanations for delays, by really being on top of the schedule, and asking questions about how any changes or decisions made will further impact the schedule.”
“I think we’ve noticed that the contractor is more responsive and appears to be putting more resources into the project. They’ve added a new superintendent to support the existing one,” added Watson, though she noted the municipality will need to draw up a contingency plan in case they are left without a home at the end of October.
