Demolition of old pool to start this month

The demolition of the old aquatic centre could be starting sometime in August.

According to Sue Keenan, Director of Parks and Recreation for the Town of Barrhead, the Town took the first step in demolishing the old building after having an initial meeting with Whitson Contracting on Friday, August 1, 2014.

“We met with the contractor because Council had a few questions when I presented the tenders last week so we wanted to clarify all of the information. They have guaranteed us an eight-week window once demolition starts, so eight weeks from beginning to end. My bet is we won’t actually start demolition until the week of August 11,” said Keenan.

Keenan explained that two companies out of four put in bids for the demolition of the pool and the Town went with the lowest qualified tender.

“The tender came in at $476,700 excluding GST. It was a little higher than we hoped it would be and the reason for that is that when the old pool comes down there will need to be some bracing of the curling rink wall before they actually knock the old facility down,” said Keenan. “The big unknown is if we will be backfilling that site or not. If we know we are going to build a pool within a year my suggestion to Council was that we just fence it off, make sure it is safe and wait. If we have to backfill it, it will cost way more money than we originally anticipated.”

Keenan discussed Council’s decision to go with Whitson Contracting for the project.

“In terms of doing our homework, Whitson has a really solid reputation as a company. We have asked for a couple of things. One is that there is a guarantee of the eight-week time frame because I want this done before winter rolls in and if it isn’t done by then can we attach penalties. The second is because we have big events happening around town we want to make sure we minimize the impact of the pool demolition,” she added.

Keenan stated that there would be a slight impact to some events in the community as the project moves forward.

“There will be a big impact on the rodeo in September. I have let all of the community groups that are affected know what is going on but we won’t know what that impact will exactly be,” said Keenan. “We believe there will not be an impact on the Kraft Celebration Tour visit because when they initially start demolition they will have to go in and strip the building first and, in my estimation, that will take at least a week.”

Keenan said she is very happy that the old aquatic centre will be coming down in the very near future.

“When I started here in January, one of my biggest concerns was the atmosphere and environment my staff had to work in and it was dreadful,” she said. “From an operational aspect, we just kept pouring more money into bad money. I was happy that Council supported my recommendation to tear down the old pool and my CAO has been very supportive with the things that I have brought forward in terms of that. It needs to come down, for sure. I will be very happy when it comes down and it becomes a figment of my imagination. This community deserves better.”

Keenan went on to explain the benefits of the recreational facilities the Town has.

“This community is very fortunate in terms of the number of recreational amenities we have for the population we are supporting and we should be celebrating that. We should be striving to make sure that our facilities are respected, that we take care of them, that when we are planning for the future we look at the big picture,” she said. “I am very optimistic the demolition of the old pool will be completed in the eight-week time frame. I have every confidence with this contracting company that they will get the job done. I am hopeful that this building will be down by Thanksgiving.”