Sackville’s new emergency services and town hall building project is still on track, on time and on budget, despite an additional $100,000 approved last week for the design phase of the facility.
During a special council meeting last Monday night, town council authorized an increase in expenses for additional contract work to Architecture 2000 Inc., the company awarded the tender for the design work, in the amount of $93,200 (plus HST).
Eric Mourant, the town’s chief administrative officer, said the overrun costs are related to the geothermal system that will be included in the facility (instead of natural gas), as well as creating a more open and inviting stairwell leading to the new town hall.
Mourant said the geothermal heating/cooling system was found to be more efficient than all the other options considered and therefore the contractor has had to change the original design plans to reflect the town’s decision, incurring additional costs.
As well, the set of stairs leading to the upper-level town hall were originally located at the end of the entryway, further from the elevator, and closed off with fire doors. A change to that design was requested, said Mourant, and approval from the fire marshall was needed, adding more costs to the contract.
However, Mourant insisted the project is still under budget, with several other phases of the project such as site preparation coming in under what was anticipated.
During last week’s meeting, council also awarded Catalyst Consulting an $8,000 contract to work with the town’s arts and culture policy committee as they consider how to incorporate public art at the new municipal building. Catalyst is the consulting firm that has been working with the town since day one on the project.
Catalyst and the committee will develop a request for proposals for the art, and will also take into account the artists’ selection process. The contractor will also supervise the installation of the art when it is time to be mounted.
“We feel this is an important part of the new building,” said Mourant. “There will be several artworks outside and inside . . . and we think this will be money well invested.”
