The city is reaching into its rainy-day fund to replace part of the roof over the north wing of the Orillia City Centre after the “high-priority” project came in almost half a million dollars higher than expected.
During last year’s budget deliberations, councillors approved $1.1 million for the project. When the tenders came in from contractors last month, even the lowest bidder was much higher than expected, sending the overall cost soaring to $1,578,000.
Kent Guptill, the city’s director of facilities and special projects, said the elevated cost is in line with what’s happening in the construction industry.
He told councillors at Monday’s committee meeting that “certain sectors of the construction industry are seeing a 20 to 30 per cent increase in costs this year due to the GTA and surrounding area’s busy public- and private-sector building program (coupled with) the shortage of trades in the industry as well.”
Coun. Tim Lauer said investing $1.5 million “seems like an awful lot of money to pay for half a roof.” He also questioned how the lifespan of the roof could only be 20 years.
“I’d be hoping I’d get more than 20 years for that price,” said Lauer.
But Guptill said the lifespan estimate is accurate. He said flat roofs typically last 20 years.
However, Guptill said part of this project is to replace the wood structure, which has deteriorated over time.
“A big part of this construction is the repair of the wood,” said Guptill. “In 2006, a roof was put on a roof and the work was not done underneath, so the wood has continued to deteriorate over time and we’re at the point now where both have to come off and it has to be fixed properly.”
He said the new wood should last for decades. However, the roof membrane has a 20-year lifespan.
“The structure itself will be good for a long time,” said Guptill. “The roofing materials itself will last 20 years.”
Lauer questioned the wisdom of sticking with a flat roof and asked if a peaked roof or other alternatives had been pondered.
Ian Sugden, the director of development services and engineering development services, said the city’s hands are somewhat tied.
“This is a designated heritage building or property, so the flat roof is part of this building’s design,” noted Sugden.
He said changing to a peak roof or gable roof “would need to go through the municipal heritage committee and there would have to be decisions made to alter the building.”
Coun. David Campbell questioned the $30,000 budgeted for the relocation of staff and rooftop antennas.
Guptill said the cost to relocate the antennas is about $10,000, with the remaining $20,000 budgeted to relocate three departments within the building while the work is being completed between August and October.
“There is a lot of people and a lot of equipment to be moved in a short period of time,” noted Guptill, who stressed that service to residents cannot be interrupted.
Staff have to “be up and working throughout the project. This money is to make sure they are able to do that.”
For years, the city has retained Tacoma Engineers to monitor the structural condition of the Orillia City Centre building, which was rebuilt in 1909 after the original manufacturing building had been destroyed by fire.
In their Sept. 24, 2018 report, Tacoma identified the need to replace the north section of the roof in 2019 to prevent further deterioration of structural elements.
Over the last couple of years, there have been numerous leaks that required remedial repairs.
Invasive structural sampling completed by Tacoma identified that up to 25 percent of the roof deck will require significant wood repair and replacement.
The project also includes the replacement of fire sprinkler heads and 13 ceiling-mounted heat pumps which are at the end of their service life.
Four acceptable bids were submitted on the project. Orillia’s Bradanick Construction was selected after providing the lowest bid: 1,287,288 plus HST. The highest bid, $1,621,842, was submitted by Van Horne Construction Ltd.
The remainder of the price is for tender coordination, contract administration, allowances for the temporary relocation of staff and the roof-top antennas, and a contingency amount of approximately 10%.
The unanticipated additional money will be taken from the city’s capital contingency reserve fund which currently has a balance of $1,017,000.
NORDIA HVAC
Council committee also agreed to spend $15,000 to replace a rooftop heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) unit at Nordia, the building the city owns at 2 Hunter Valley Road.
The call centre building was constructed in 2002, which is when the HVAC units were installed. They typically have a lifespan of 15 to 20 years.
A phased-in replacement of the units is slated to begin in 2020. Because of that, staff recommended replacing the unit now rather than spending money to attempt to fix the failed unit.
All decisions made at council committee are subject to ratification at Thursday’s council meeting.
