At the regular meeting of Barrhead County council on Tuesday, Feb. 16, Town of Barrhead CAO Martin Taylor informed the assembly of the on-going cost-saving efforts being undertaken by the town, in conjunction with Clarke Builders, with regards to the construction of the new aquatic centre.
“The project is at a point now where it is shifting gears and we are getting ready to break ground,” Martin Taylor told councillors, adding that there have been a number of minor changes to the overall structure.
Taylor explained that while some portions of the design – the colour scheme and layout of the interior of the building – have remained unchanged, other portions have been modified.
“We took out the decorative tile-work that was proposed for around the pool, in the offices and hallways, and made the decision to go with steel-coated lockers rather than 100 per cent stainless steel ones,” he said, adding the latter by itself was a saving of approximately $90,000.
Taylor said the total number of windows in front of the proposed building have been reduced and the architect’s pet project, the white dome, has also been shrunk down in size.
“Much of the design inside and out has not changed overmuch, but these are some of the ways that we have tried to trim the costs,” he said.
According to Taylor, the majority of the scheduling – the architect, the engineers, the builders, has been signed off on already.
“Not all of the sub-trades have signed off yet, but most of them have and there are some local people involved, I just can’t say who yet until everything is ready to go forward,” he said, adding permits still need to be issued but most calls or inquiries are re-directed to Clarke Builder’s now.
Regarding a question from Coun. Ron Kleinfeldt about Andrew Viersen’s letter to the Barrhead Leader on Feb. 9, referencing transgender change-rooms and other facilities, Taylor said there will be one washroom, not two, and that staff will have to deal with similar situations on the spot.
“That was something we have discussed with the architect before, three or four years ago, and it has always been an issue,” he said, adding that he personally did not think Western Canada was ready for European-style washrooms.
“The European model is wide open and you can see right through them,” Taylor said. “There’s no privacy there. Our facility will have private change-rooms, if people want to use them, and we aren’t going to stop anybody from doing so. We just don’t think we are ready for the European model.”
Taylor told council he expects the project to be completed by October 2017, and that the groundbreaking would be towards the end of March, weather permitting.
“There is some stuff that needs to be done before we can start digging, but hopefully the weather cooperates and we can get in there in March,” he added.
“If Clarke Builder’s is a dime over, that’s all on them and that is the beauty of a construction management model,” he said. “Unless we find a gold shaft underneath the facility, the price we quoted, that’s what it is.”
