Jen Col Construction Ltd. has been awarded the contract for construction of a six-lane aquatics centre component of the Credit Union CUPlex.
Jen Col beat out seven other bidders from all over Canada with a total price of $16,459,000 plus GST. The Stony Plain, Alberta construction company now has the green light to get started on a six-lane pool, the second phase of the project.
The vote by city council to award the contract to Jen Col was unanimous. The decision also dashed hopes by local swim groups who called upon council to build an eight-lane aquatic centre in order to attract more swim meets to the facility once it is built.
Tenders had been opened for the aquatics centre tender on July 27, with the original bids ranging from $18.23 million to $20.62 million. According to an August 17 memorandum submitted by director of recreation and parks Stuart York, Jen Col submitted an initial low bid of $18.23 million, a figure that was over $600,000 lower than the next competing bid.
York explained that the three lowest bidders then were able to resubmit bids excluding all the ceramic tile flooring work for the base building and the pool. The end result was no different: Jen Col again emerged as the low bidder.
York said the intent is for the flooring to be re-tendered to sub-trades as a separate bid, a cost that will be added later. A $1.2 million allowance has been factored in for that, York told council.
Considered was whether the aquatic centre should be built as a six-lane facility, or as an eight-lane facility.
All bidders carried an allowance of $800,000 to cover an expansion of the 25 m pool from six to eight lanes, based on an average square foot cost. That would not have guaranteed the cost, though, as York noted it could go higher.
As well, there was a $300,000 allowance carried for equipment to outfit the kitchen concession facilities.
According to York's memo, inclusion of all items would have raised the total price to $18,759,800 - or about $2 million over the November 2009 estimate that included escalation and contingencies.
It would have also brought the total cost of both the theatre and aquatic centre components to a combined $32,059,800, which the city estimated would be $2.45 million more than November 2009 estimates that included both a 10 percent construction contingency and a 1.5 percent escalation estimate.
But York attached a summary of competitive aquatics user statistics, stating in his memo to council that competitive aquatics programs make up about 4 percent of current pool attendance and less than 2 percent of revenues. York also stated that with the addition of the leisure pool, the public swim portion of pool attendance was expected to grow significantly.
Administration recommended eliminating the eight-lane pool option and kitchen equipment, which brought the combined total cost down to $30,859,800. That was still about $1.25 million over the budget estimate from November 2009.
The fact that the tenders had come in above estimates for the aquatic centre, as it did for the theatre tender, was a major concern for most councillors including Grace Lang.
"What are our chances of coming in on budget?" Lang said. "We've gone over with both of these bids."
City manager Jim Toye conceded that the city was in no position to cut items henceforth. The mindset now was to "not go into contingencies," said Toye, and bring the remaining projects in on budget.
The November 2009 estimates for the curling component is $6,893,624 and for the field house it is $12,035,587. There are also consulting fees factored in of $1,998,918.
"The hope is with the design build we might be able to catch up on that," said Toye, referring to the curling and field house components.
Coun. Don Buglas was concerned about what could happen down the road, fearing possible cost overruns during the construction itself.
Buglas brought up the example of other projects where the planning was not as efficient as it could have been and where workers were left waiting for materials. The contractor had to "hot-shot it in," Buglas said, and had to scour across western Canada looking for that material and hire trucking companies to bring it in.
"That was where some of the overruns were happening, because they weren't as organized as they could have been," said Buglas.
He asked what plans administration had to make sure the project stayed on track and costs stayed in line. Toye said the city has made it clear to the consultants that money was very important to the city and that the contractor had the responsibility to make sure all the sub-trades had supplies and that there were open lines of communication with them. He assured the city would work with the contractors and architects to that end to keep costs in line.
In the end council was satisfied enough to go ahead with voting unanimously in favor of awarding the aquatic centre tender for a six lane aquatic centre, in spite of the mounting concerns about costs.
"It's certainly not going to get cheaper," said Coun. Ron Crush, adding that to save a dollar today by delaying the project might "cost us millions more" down the road.
Crush said he also struggled with the issue of six-versus-eight lanes, doing a lot of research into the whole issue. He said six lanes was in line with what other similar-sized communities had, saying "they seem to be functioning rather well" with five or six lane facilities. Crush was also happy with the addition of a leisure pool to the aquatic centre that would bring in revenue and users.
Crush said he's heard plenty of talk about the "wants" citizens had for each of the components. He acknowledged citizens weren't going to get exactly what they want with all of them, but they would be getting what they needed. "I believe our needs are being met," said Crush.
Coun. Trent Houk also voted in favor, saying that an aquatic centre was desperately needed. "We were overdue for a pool 15 years ago," said Houk, who echoed Crush's comments that waiting any longer would only mean higher costs.
