Although a few projects have fallen behind schedule, the long overdue library and cultural centre is still on track for its Sept. 1 completion date.
Mark Fercho, municipal chief administrative officer, presented council with a revised construction schedule at the April 14 committee-of-the-whole meeting. That schedule takes into account the concrete grinding that is still ongoing, as well as the replacement of the exterior stucco, which was not up to standard.
“The testing of the completed stucco work by the manufacturer uncovered deficiencies in the installation that required the contractor to remove and reinstall the stucco,” Fercho explained after the meeting. “This work is now underway and is being completed by the contractor at their expense.”
Removal and reinstallation of the stucco began on April 9.
Fercho said, despite these minor setbacks, it appears “substantial construction completion will be in the last few weeks of June.
“Then we have the July and August period ... basically just for the start-up.
“Everything appears to be on track at this point and consistent with that schedule.”
The library and cultural centre has posed endless problems for the municipality, with the improper installation of everything from the roof, walls, floors, stairs, windows and mechanical system over the course of the past few years.
Last July, the budget was increased to $9 million, with the caveat that it will most likely reach $9.5 million before the project is complete. Currently, it is $1.5 million over budget and 27 months overdue.
The increases have come gradually since construction began in November of 2011. The first was $462,000 to cover the cost of asbestos abatement in the old library building, as well as the levelling of the building’s floors, and an increase to the project’s contingency fund in case of any other unforeseen projects.
The following summer, another increase came, bringing the total project budget up to $8.5 million—a million dollars over budget. Included in that round of expenses was the stabilization of an old chimney, additional structural framing, and increased permitting costs.
Up until that point, all of the increases were related to the old library—a heritage building that, according to federal regulations, must be preserved and maintained as closely to its original form as possible.
It was about five months later that the next problem surfaced: mechanical issues. A new architect—the third to join the project—discovered the original drawings for the mechanical room were insufficient to withstand Jasper’s frigid winter temperatures, so the work that had been done had to be removed and redone in order for an appropriate heating system to be installed.
Then came the issues with the roof.
The removal of the cedar shakes and shingles, as well as the roof’s air barrier, was the result of a third-party report that noted the roof was inadequate, as it didn’t have a vapour barrier, and the air barrier that existed wasn’t tied into the walls.
The walls were next in the long line of construction blunders that have plagued the building.
Although they were meant to be left as sealed architectural concrete, at some point down the line, they were covered with an additional layer of concrete that the municipality deemed unacceptable. To rectify the issue, the contractor had to grind the extra layer off the walls, setting the project back by a number of weeks.
The most recent string of issues include uneven floors throughout the new building, windows without a proper design and the improper placement of joints for the stairs at the front and back of the building.
The floors are still in the process of being levelled by the contractor. As of the April 14 report, they were 90 per cent complete.
“In terms of the stairwells,” said Fercho last week, “we’re still back and forth on approving the final samples of the treads in the stairs themselves, for the actual construction of the new stairs and the removal of the existing stairs. We’re very close to that.”
Despite all of the construction issues and delays, the municipality has had to continue paying the contractors to keep the project moving. It hopes to recover some of those funds during a mediation process following the building’s completion.
That process will sort out which party is responsible for each of the overruns and delays.
For example, it has already been determined that the municipality is not liable for the cost of removing and replacing the insufficient roof that was installed in 2013. Those costs—about $250,000—will be borne by the architect (Stantec) and contractor (Delnor), as they were each responsible for a portion of the errors.
Last December, a master schedule for the completion of the project was released, setting month-by-month progress goals.
That timeline, which was updated this month, has been agreed upon by Stantec, Delnor and the municipality and is now the guiding document that will lead the project to its September completion.
Each month until September, council will receive a progress report from the contractors, outlining what has been completed the previous month.
Those reports are presented by Fercho at the first committee-of-the-whole meeting of the month.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
