It cost more than expected and ended up two years behind schedule, but the $55-million Orillia Recreation Centre is set to finally open - albeit on a limited basis - in less than a month.
“At this stage, our plan is to use the facility for Day Camps beginning (the week of) Aug. 10 and start other programming after Labour Day – based on restrictions/guidelines in place at the time,” said Jennifer Ruff, the city’s director of communication and business development.
The multi-use facility at 255 West St. S. features an aquatic centre, double-gym, fitness room and running track, among other amenities.
Most recently, the work has been delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions, although staff stress there have been “no reported cases of COVID-19 on the site.”
In a recent memo to city councillors - an update is provided every month - city staff provided an update on work at the facility.
The three pools are essentially complete; the filling of the pools began last week.
The maple hardwood floor in the gymnasium is about 75 per cent complete. Next steps include sanding, sealing, painting lines and finishing.
The rubberized flooring on the running/walking track is installed and lane markings have been painted.
The central feature stairway has been installed and just needs finishing details.
The final coats of interior painting are underway.
The report to city councillors notes the facility’s multi function rooms are about 95% complete; dividers/removable curtains have been installed.
The display cases in the second-floor Sports Hall of Fame have also been installed.
Preparation to add the final layer of asphalt to the parking lot is underway and work is beginning to finish final landscaping.
There is still some work to be done.
Over the next few weeks, the wood floor in the gym will be completed, while final landscaping and site seeding will be done.
In addition, all interior and exterior doors will be painted and hardware installed - including the electronic door access system.
There is also some ceiling tile that needs to be installed and the railing in some of the gym viewing areas has to be put in place.
Millwork is expected to be completed in reception areas and cabinets in both the Sports Hall of Fame and entrance corridor will be installed.
Staff say the front entrance doors will soon be installed, while the interior building signage will also be completed.
Also, in the coming weeks, the various building mechanical and pool mechanical systems will be commissioned, and the pools will be commissioned.
Once full, the starting blocks will be installed in the lap pool.
So far, there have been 308 “change orders” approved; they include both credits for removal of work and additions for work not specified in the tender documentation.
The value of changes, to date, is $3,790,856 of the $3,935,000 set aside as part of the project’s contingency fund.
That fund has been increased three times; it was originally set at $2 million.
Staff reported there were 30 outstanding items that were recently combined into one change order.
“The 30 items were vetted through the normal process with feedback from consultants,” noted the report.
The combined value of these change orders is almost $501,000. That includes a claim back to Atlas which resulted in a credit of $115,000 to cover additional consulting fees due to the extended length of the project.
Although no item was “over the reporting threshold,” staff reported the expenditure in compliance with the policy which requires reporting any change order over $250,000.
When the project started, a $2-million contingency fund was established. That represented 4% of the project cost even though a minimum 5% contingency is recommended for large-scale capital projects - more for a project like this being built on a brownfield.
Contingencies are used to address issues that arise once construction activities begin, that were unknown and/or outside the scope of the original construction tender documentation, city staff noted in a report.
In the summer of 2018, council approved an additional $850,000 to the contingency "to account for extra costs associated with site conditions." That brought the total contingency to 5.6 per cent.
In January of 2019, council approved an additional $975,000 for the contingency fund, raising the percentage of the overall budget to about 7%.
Then, in May of 2020, council gave the green light to $650,000 more for the contingency fund.
That additional funding raises that contingency above 8% - or twice as much as originally earmarked.
