BARRHEAD – Part of the roof of the Barrhead Agrena's Charles Godberson Rotary Room is failing, and the price tag to repair it is more than was budgeted for in the 2022 capital budget.
To rectify the problem and solve it before it gets worse, Town of Barrhead councillors, during their April 27 meeting, unanimously approved an additional $20,000 to complete the repairs.
The additional funds will come from the town's capital reserves.
Chief administrative officer (CAO) Edward LeBlanc said after they learned about the issue in the fall, he contacted two contractors, one of them being Flynn Canada, an international commercial roofing company whose bid came in substantially lower than its competition.
"The other quote was something like $323,000," he said.
LeBlanc then brought the bid to council during their budget deliberations to incorporate the amount into the 2022 capital budget, which was approved on April 12.
However, he said that recently he received an e-mail from Flynn, noting that because of supply chain issues, the price of materials needed for the project had risen dramatically and the contractor needed an additional $19,000.
Coun. Rod Klumph said the request did not surprise him, as the construction industry, like many others, was experiencing significant inflationary pressures, and asked specifically what the issue with the roof was.
Parks and recreation director Shallon Touet noted the problem area was the flat roof that connects the Agrena with the Barrhead Regional Aquatics Centre.
"It is the original roof. It has a styrofoam type insulation with fibreboard on top and then a rubber membrane," he said.
Touet said it is the rubber membrane that is the issue.
"It is failing," he said, adding the staples from the fibreboard are starting to poke through the membrane in several locations. "In the rainy season, you can be in the Godberson Room, and a ceiling panel will fall on you. It is dripping that bad, especially closer to the pool area.”
Touet believes the issue stems back to the construction of the aquatics centre in 2017.
He added when Clarke Builders was constructing the swimming pool, the workers would often walk on that section.
"Where they walked is the worst part," Touet said but added the entire membrane needs to be replaced. The new roof will be equivalent to what we have at the aquatics centre ... which, instead of a membrane, is a combination of tar and an asphalt tile."
He added that as a result, the aquatics centre roof has a 15-year warranty.
Coun. Anthony Oswald asked if the town considered a peaked roof using tin on the aquatics centre and the Charles Godberson Room, as its lifespan is considerably longer than 15 years.
Touet replied they had, but at the time, then CAO Martin Taylor felt that price was prohibitive.
"The other reason is that we still needed to have a trap door somewhere to maintain the other roofs," he said.
