The cost of the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg’s new administration building is going up.
Council moved forward by a 6-3 vote to increase the total construction cost to $8.7-million, a spike of $1.1-million.
Three bids received to construct the building were higher than budgeted.
Mayor Carolyn Bolivar-Getson says large discrepancies in estimates for millwork, mechanical and electrical were to blame.
“We can’t control those markets. We were told early on in our plans to build a new building that there was always that possibility that the market would be hot at that particular point in time and that the prices could be higher than expected.”
Bolivar-Getson says the project manager can still find ways to bring down the cost.
“It gave the project manager, the opportunity the way the tender was written, to go out and look at these things that did come in over budget and to see if there are alternatives in moving that forward. Every tender that is written the construction company has preferred sub-contractors that they use. It gives us the opportunity to go out and look at that to see if there are any savings that can be had if there was a different sub-contractor doing the work.”
Roscoe Construction of the Annapolis Valley was awarded the tender to construct the new admin building.
Staff have been directed by council to find savings on capital projects to cover the additional $1.1-million.
Meanwhile, John Veinot was one of three councillors who voted against the recommended motion brought forward by council.
It says the project manager can negotiate on engineering options to reduce the project cost.
While he supports a new administration building, the councillor for areas like Baker Settlement and Newcombville disagreed with the process.
“I don’t believe in going out and negotiating after we award our tender. Negotiations should be done before the tender is awarded and then come back to us.”
Councillors Errol Knickle and Michael Ernst also voted against while Deputy Mayor Cathy Moore and Councillor Eric Hustvedt were absent.
The original cost of the building was $7.2-million, but was increased in March to $7.6-million after design changes were made.
Bolivar-Getson says the municipality will not incur debt or raise taxes to construct the new building, which will be located in Cookville.
The current building, located at 210 Aberdeen Road, does not meet National Building Code or Nova Scotia’s Accessibility Act.
Space, air quality and security issues are some of the primary deficiencies with the existing building.
A report produced by Catalyst Consulting determined that it would be more expensive to renovate and expand the existing building to meet accessibility, space and code requirements than it would be to invest in a new building.
The design of the new admin building was developed to use as many locally-sourced materials and tradespeople as possible, and to achieve an energy use that is 30% less than National Building Code requirements.
In addition to being fully accessible, the design of the building will enable the municipality to offer improved service for the thousands of residents who utilize the building each year.
