Stantec, the architect and consultant on the library and cultural centre, has informed the municipality that it believes the project builder is in default of its contract.
That information was presented to both Peter Waterworth, chief administrative officer for the municipality, and the CEO of Delnor—the builder—during a joint meeting Nov. 29.
Stantec’s letter lists five areas, with numerous bullet points beneath each header, where Delnor is not meeting its obligations. Included in those areas is “the covering up of work that does not meet the contract document requirements,” “not performing work in a timely manner,” “inexcusable delays,” “not supervising the work so as to ensure conformity with the contract documents,” “not promptly repairing defective work” and “unreasonable mark-ups.”
Waterworth brought this information to council, Dec. 3, and explained the course of action from here.
In an interview following the meeting, he said Stantec’s letter is basically telling the municipality “you’re not getting what you paid for.” During Waterworth’s meeting with the architect and builder, Stantec also provided targets and possible timelines for the remediation of issues and the completion of the project.
Waterworth received a formal reply from Delnor last week. On Monday, he replied to the company and copied that letter to the surety company, giving “them warning of the difficulties that we’re facing,” he said.
The surety has a contract with both Delnor and the municipality, protecting the municipality in the event that the builder doesn’t meet its obligations. Within his letter, Waterworth requested that the surety put a continued presence on the construction site.
In the case that Delnor doesn’t live up to the contract, the surety has a number of options. Some of those include, employing another builder to do the work, tendering the project and leaving it up to the municipality to select the contractor or paying out the bond—about $3.3 million—to the municipality.
“This is not a process to be entered into lightly,” said Waterworth.
“From our point of view, it’s the ultimate fallback. Our preferred position remains that the three parties manage to work together to have a project to celebrate at the end of the day.”
Waterworth said, so far, Delnor has expressed its intention to complete the project to the standard it agreed to within the contract.
The builder has also provided a new completion date: the end of March 2014.
If the building is completed by March—14 months after the original completion date of January 2013—the various user groups could occupy the space in May.
Since construction began in November 2011, there have been numerous delays caused by unforeseen circumstances—like the need to level a floor in the existing library building—and by errors made by the builder and architect.
The issues caused by the two contractors have resulted in construction delays to determine who is liable for the errors—including the mechanical issues that plagued the building in the early part of 2013 and the need to replace the roof last summer.
Stantec has taken responsibility for the mechanical issues and, in July, it was determined that both Delnor and Stanec are responsible for the inadequate materials and construction of the roof.
“There have been problems with the construction from the start,” said Waterworth.
And many of those problems were spotted by Stantec’s latest architect, the third to take on the project. The first two left for other projects.
When Heather Bretz took on the job, she did a full review of the building—as is customary with any architect taking on an existing project—and she uncovered a number of issues that she felt needed to be addressed.
Because of the extensive list of problems with the building, Waterworth said it is likely the legal disputes over liability will continue following the completion of the building.
“It is likely some of this will go to formal mediation at the end of the process—given the complexity of the issues involved—because it’s not just these individual items, but also the issues around delay and all the other issues that have been there from the outset.”
During the council meeting, Dec. 3, Coun. Gilbert Wall respond to Waterworth’s news by saying, “this is a disaster.
“It’s a disaster for the community, and it’s a disaster for council, particularly the last one.
“Five years out, if we get the building we paid for and we’re confident in the build, a lot of this will be forgotten, but if we go through this process and we don’t get the building we paid for and we have problems with the build, this could be ongoing for years.
“So, I think it’s vitally important that we’re not only protected legally and administratively, but that we are also protected on site.”
Waterworth responded by saying the municipality’s lawyers have assured him there is no downside to the actions being taking, and he also noted that increased on- site protection is the reason he has requested further supervision from the surety.
Nicole Veerman
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