Government Conference Centre (Union Station) renovation | Completed

[Boxster]

The senate should be occupying the street as far as I am concerned. As long as they do not block the traffic.

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I think you're right. Either way, they are both unnecessary expenses.

To be clear, we should invest in old Union, but investing extra money to accommodate the Senate is a waste of resources.

[mac_junkie1]

Yea, I red somewhere also that it was Padolsky... Not sure why they'd keep the penthouse and the 70s back crap. It can go... Put back the dome and in the back, keep the doors at least, but design something that doesn't look temporary.... This building is right in the heart of the city. It should echo its heritage and look grand, just like it was 101 years ago. When this place was new, most people had never seen a building of this "grandure". Now it looks lost and unkept. Time to give it the love it deserves. I have a feeling our little city will look very nice in the next few years. ABOUT TIME!!

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I read somewhere that they were keeping the penthouse that replaced the dome in the 50s (?) as well as the junk Trudeau expansion at the back.

As for Padolsky, I thought he was the architect on this one. Don't know when/if it changed.

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I think you're right. Either way, they are both unnecessary expenses.

To be clear, we should invest in old Union, but investing extra money to accommodate the Senate is a waste of resources.

Looks like there was in fact a study done of its feasibility:
http://www.wmta.ca/work/heritage-conservation/east-block-infill-feasibility-report/

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by gjhall

Looks like there was in fact a study done of its feasibility:
http://www.wmta.ca/work/heritage-conservation/east-block-infill-feasibility-report/

Idiots! In this times of austerity, we will keep wasting billions on unnecessary projects and expenses like fancy spaces for the government elite that will never be enjoyed by the tax paying public.

[McC]

indeed, huff. huff. harr. harr. couldn't the Houses of Parliament sit in an unheated warehouse on Sheffield? couldn't they teleconference in from their ridings? why should we have a Parliament at all? why not sell the Hill?

come on.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by McC

indeed, huff. huff. harr. harr. couldn't the Houses of Parliament sit in an unheated warehouse on Sheffield? couldn't they teleconference in from their ridings? why should we have a Parliament at all? why not sell the Hill?

come on.

The Senate CAN be abolished and the House of Commons can move into any office building downtown. We have more important priorities than spending a couple hundred million on fancy rooms where a few overpaid buffoons can argue a few times a year.

[rocketphish]

Firm on Quebec blacklist shortlisted for Conference Centre contract

By Don Butler, OTTAWA CITIZEN October 30, 2013 7:01 PM



A company shortlisted as a bidder for a key contract in the Government Conference Centre rehabilitation project is on a Government of Quebec blacklist because of concerns raised by the Charbonneau commission into construction industry corruption.

Montreal-based Verreault Inc. was one of five firms pre-qualified this fall by Public Works and Government Services Canada to bid on the contract as construction manager of the $190-million project.

The project, which must be completed by 2018, will repair the crumbling 101-year-old former train station at 2 Rideau St. and turn it into a temporary home for the Senate during major renovations to Parliament’s Centre Block.

When the Senate returns to the Centre Block in 2028, the building will revert to its current use as a government conference centre.

Verreault, which was founded in 1927, is one of Quebec’s largest construction firms. In 2008, it became a subsidiary of the engineering firm Dessau Inc., creating one of Canada’s largest engineering-construction groups, with 5,000 employees.

In June, both Dessau and Verreault were blacklisted under Quebec legislation — arising from the Charbonneau commission’s work — designed to restore integrity to the province’s corruption-riddled construction industry.

The Quebec law requires companies to be certified by the province’s stock-market regulator, the AMF, to be eligible for public contracts worth more than $40 million. The threshold will drop to $10 million later this year and ultimately to $100,000.

In an email Wednesday, Sylvain Théberge, a spokesman for the AMF, confirmed that Verreault remains on the list of ineligible firms.

To receive the AMF’s authorization, police must “verify the integrity of the company and its management,” Théberge said. “In the case of Verreault Inc., the company did not pass the test.”

Verreault can apply to be reinstated as an eligible company 12 months after its rejection, Théberge added.

In an emailed statement, Public Works acknowledged it was aware of Verreault’s ineligibility to bid on government of Quebec contracts when it shortlisted the firm as a bidder, but didn’t directly explain why it wasn’t eliminated on that basis.

The statement said the department’s “integrity framework” determines which companies can bid and contract out with Public Works. Bidders must certify that neither they, their affiliates nor active members of their board have been convicted of an offence under the department’s integrity provisions.

“Verreault Inc. and its parent will have to attest, and (Public Works) will verify, that there are no convictions against the companies or their directors,” the statement said.

When Public Works has concerns about a company, “it can and does increase the level of oversight and due diligence,” the statement said. “Should wrongdoing be suspected, the department will not hesitate to take further action, including requesting formal investigations by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or the Competition Bureau.”

Public Works can also terminate any contract if a company, affiliate or director is convicted of an offence under the department’s integrity provisions.

The name of Verreault’s parent company, Dessau, has come up often during the Charbonneau hearings.

Earlier this year, Rosaire Sauriol, Dessau’s senior vice-president, admitted to using false company invoices to funnel $2 million to municipal and provincial political parties. He also testified that he had used the same practice to contribute to federal parties.

Sauriol subsequently resigned from the privately owned firm and in May, was charged in connection with a system of collusion in Laval.

In June, his brother, Jean-Pierre Sauriol, resigned as chief executive officer and president of Dessau. A company news release said the departure was “part of the process for obtaining an integrity certification” from the AMF.

Following exchanges with the AMF, “it became evident to me that Dessau would not obtain this certification if I maintained the leadership of the company,” Sauriol said at the time. Marc Verreault, the company’s vice-president of major projects and construction, is now acting president and CEO.

Despite Sauriol’s resignation, the AMF blacklisted Dessau and Verreault on June 20. The agency told the two companies why they were ruled ineligible, but the information is not public.

In an email Wednesday, Rebecka Fortin, a spokesperson for Dessau, said the firm has “significantly reassessed” all aspects of its management and governance framework over the past few months.

“We have implemented several measures and are currently in the process of demonstrating to the AMF that these meet their expectations with respect to ethics and integrity,” she said.

Public Works pre-qualified Verreault as an eligible bidder for the conference centre contract after inviting construction management firms to apply for pre-qualification this summer.

The other shortlisted companies are M. Sullivan & Sons Ltd. of Arnprior and three Ottawa firms — EllisDon Corp., PCL Constructors Canada Inc. and a joint venture of Carillion Canada and Pomerleau Inc.

In a tender notice posted Oct. 8, Public Works invited the five firms to submit bids for the construction manager contract by Nov. 18. The successful bidder will be chosen based a “best value approach,” which includes both price and a technical score, the department said.

While hard construction costs for the project are estimated at between $90 million and $120 million, the contract will initially cover only pre-construction advice and minor construction work.

But it will also include options for construction and post-construction services that the federal government can exercise if it chooses.

Among other things, the construction manager’s responsibilities include procuring all necessary materials and services for the project, co-ordinating other contractors, project administration, quality control and budget control.

Because the project has an upper limit on investment, cost control is a key consideration. In the pre-qualification document, Public Works emphasized the role of the construction manager in providing estimates and controlling costs.

“It is this function that will fundamentally determine the success or failure of this project,” the document said.

Work is supposed to begin next June with substantial construction completed by December 2017. The building is expected to reopen in September 2018, when the Senate will move in.

This summer, Public Works also invited architectural firms to apply for the position of prime consultant for the conference centre project. That tender closed in September, but no contract has yet been awarded.

[email protected]

twitter.com/ButlerDon
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa...rence+Centre+contract/9103929/story.html

[mac_junkie1]

I would hope that the Government isn't stupid enough to get a "crap" company to do this restoration. Once again, this building, just like the Parliament, had it been maintained better during its life, wouldn't need such an extensive overhaul to repair it. We can thank the NCC for that one. They didn't care, and just wanted it torn down. That had also been proposed in 1928 and in the 50's when that dumb ass Greber had this insanely flawed vision for Ottawa that to many stupid people were believing. THANK GOD nothing too drastic happened....... The West Block was the worst one condition wise. Had building maintenance been better for 150 years, the Parliament in general wouldn't need such a massive fix-up. Serves them right... Take better care of our Heritage, and if you can't, step aside and let someone who can do it.

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Firm on Quebec blacklist shortlisted for Conference Centre contract

By Don Butler, OTTAWA CITIZEN October 30, 2013 7:01 PM



A company shortlisted as a bidder for a key contract in the Government Conference Centre rehabilitation project is on a Government of Quebec blacklist because of concerns raised by the Charbonneau commission into construction industry corruption.

Montreal-based Verreault Inc. was one of five firms pre-qualified this fall by Public Works and Government Services Canada to bid on the contract as construction manager of the $190-million project.

The project, which must be completed by 2018, will repair the crumbling 101-year-old former train station at 2 Rideau St. and turn it into a temporary home for the Senate during major renovations to Parliament’s Centre Block.

When the Senate returns to the Centre Block in 2028, the building will revert to its current use as a government conference centre.

Verreault, which was founded in 1927, is one of Quebec’s largest construction firms. In 2008, it became a subsidiary of the engineering firm Dessau Inc., creating one of Canada’s largest engineering-construction groups, with 5,000 employees.

In June, both Dessau and Verreault were blacklisted under Quebec legislation — arising from the Charbonneau commission’s work — designed to restore integrity to the province’s corruption-riddled construction industry.

The Quebec law requires companies to be certified by the province’s stock-market regulator, the AMF, to be eligible for public contracts worth more than $40 million. The threshold will drop to $10 million later this year and ultimately to $100,000.

In an email Wednesday, Sylvain Théberge, a spokesman for the AMF, confirmed that Verreault remains on the list of ineligible firms.

To receive the AMF’s authorization, police must “verify the integrity of the company and its management,” Théberge said. “In the case of Verreault Inc., the company did not pass the test.”

Verreault can apply to be reinstated as an eligible company 12 months after its rejection, Théberge added.

In an emailed statement, Public Works acknowledged it was aware of Verreault’s ineligibility to bid on government of Quebec contracts when it shortlisted the firm as a bidder, but didn’t directly explain why it wasn’t eliminated on that basis.

The statement said the department’s “integrity framework” determines which companies can bid and contract out with Public Works. Bidders must certify that neither they, their affiliates nor active members of their board have been convicted of an offence under the department’s integrity provisions.

“Verreault Inc. and its parent will have to attest, and (Public Works) will verify, that there are no convictions against the companies or their directors,” the statement said.

When Public Works has concerns about a company, “it can and does increase the level of oversight and due diligence,” the statement said. “Should wrongdoing be suspected, the department will not hesitate to take further action, including requesting formal investigations by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or the Competition Bureau.”

Public Works can also terminate any contract if a company, affiliate or director is convicted of an offence under the department’s integrity provisions.

The name of Verreault’s parent company, Dessau, has come up often during the Charbonneau hearings.

Earlier this year, Rosaire Sauriol, Dessau’s senior vice-president, admitted to using false company invoices to funnel $2 million to municipal and provincial political parties. He also testified that he had used the same practice to contribute to federal parties.

Sauriol subsequently resigned from the privately owned firm and in May, was charged in connection with a system of collusion in Laval.

In June, his brother, Jean-Pierre Sauriol, resigned as chief executive officer and president of Dessau. A company news release said the departure was “part of the process for obtaining an integrity certification” from the AMF.

Following exchanges with the AMF, “it became evident to me that Dessau would not obtain this certification if I maintained the leadership of the company,” Sauriol said at the time. Marc Verreault, the company’s vice-president of major projects and construction, is now acting president and CEO.

Despite Sauriol’s resignation, the AMF blacklisted Dessau and Verreault on June 20. The agency told the two companies why they were ruled ineligible, but the information is not public.

In an email Wednesday, Rebecka Fortin, a spokesperson for Dessau, said the firm has “significantly reassessed” all aspects of its management and governance framework over the past few months.

“We have implemented several measures and are currently in the process of demonstrating to the AMF that these meet their expectations with respect to ethics and integrity,” she said.

Public Works pre-qualified Verreault as an eligible bidder for the conference centre contract after inviting construction management firms to apply for pre-qualification this summer.

The other shortlisted companies are M. Sullivan & Sons Ltd. of Arnprior and three Ottawa firms — EllisDon Corp., PCL Constructors Canada Inc. and a joint venture of Carillion Canada and Pomerleau Inc.

In a tender notice posted Oct. 8, Public Works invited the five firms to submit bids for the construction manager contract by Nov. 18. The successful bidder will be chosen based a “best value approach,” which includes both price and a technical score, the department said.

While hard construction costs for the project are estimated at between $90 million and $120 million, the contract will initially cover only pre-construction advice and minor construction work.

But it will also include options for construction and post-construction services that the federal government can exercise if it chooses.

Among other things, the construction manager’s responsibilities include procuring all necessary materials and services for the project, co-ordinating other contractors, project administration, quality control and budget control.

Because the project has an upper limit on investment, cost control is a key consideration. In the pre-qualification document, Public Works emphasized the role of the construction manager in providing estimates and controlling costs.

“It is this function that will fundamentally determine the success or failure of this project,” the document said.

Work is supposed to begin next June with substantial construction completed by December 2017. The building is expected to reopen in September 2018, when the Senate will move in.

This summer, Public Works also invited architectural firms to apply for the position of prime consultant for the conference centre project. That tender closed in September, but no contract has yet been awarded.

[email protected]

twitter.com/ButlerDon
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa...rence+Centre+contract/9103929/story.html

[rocketphish]

Public Works awards key contracts for Conference Centre project

Formerly blacklisted firm Verreault didn’t submit a bid despite being shortlisted

By Don Butler, OTTAWA CITIZEN March 14, 2014

OTTAWA — Preliminary work on the $190-million restoration of the Government Conference Centre is expected to begin next month following the awarding of key design and construction contracts last week.

PCL Constructors Canada Inc. won a $2.6-million contract to provide construction management services for the project, which will restore the crumbling, century-old heritage building on Confederation Square and transform it into a temporary home for the Senate of Canada.

One of the other firms shortlisted for the construction management contract last fall, Montreal-based Verreault Inc., was on a Government of Quebec blacklist at the time because of concerns raised by the Charbonneau commission into construction industry corruption.

Among the five shortlisted companies, Verreault was the only one that didn’t submit a bid, Public Works and Government Services Canada said in an email. Verreault and its parent company, Dessau, are now back on the list of companies eligible to bid on public-sector contracts in the province.

“After going through the tender documents, Verreault made the decision not to go ahead with the project as it was not able to respond to the demand in terms of availability of resources needed to carry out the project properly,” a Dessau spokeswoman, Rebecka Fortin, said in an emailed statement.

Public Works also selected a joint venture of two architectural firms — Diamond Schmitt Architects of Toronto and KWC Architects of Ottawa — as prime consultant for the project’s design and implementation. They will be paid $3.6 million.

The Government Conference Centre, once Ottawa’s central train station, has not had a major overhaul since the 1970s and is in poor condition.

The urgent need to fix up the building coincided with the government’s requirement to find an interim home for the Senate, which must vacate the Red Chamber to make way for a decade-long restoration of the Centre Block set to begin in 2018.

As well as general repairs to the Conference Centre building, the project involves the creation of a temporary Senate chamber, 21 offices, three committee rooms and other support spaces. The building will revert to its current use as a conference centre once the Centre Block restoration is finished, likely about 2028.

The contract awarded to PCL covers only pre-construction advice and minor construction work, but includes an option for the main construction work and related management services. Public Works expects to award that contract this fall.

The total estimated cost of hard construction for the Conference Centre project is $91.8 million, with substantial completion scheduled for December 2017.

Diamond Schmitt was founded in 1975 by Jack Diamond and Donald Schmitt. KWC is a mid-size Ottawa firm founded in 1978 by Stephan Katz.

The two firms have worked together before. They collaborated on the design of the University of Ottawa’s new Faculty of Social Sciences Building, a 16-storey tower linked to the '50s-era Vanier Building, which opened in 2012.

As prime consultant, the firms will prepare the design, commission required services and be responsible for cost, scheduling and project control.

[email protected]

twitter.com/ButlerDon
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa...erence+Centre+project/9614937/story.html

[Boxster]

This would of been a great opportunity to get rid of the senate altogether.

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Public Works awards key contracts for Conference Centre project

Formerly blacklisted firm Verreault didn’t submit a bid despite being shortlisted

By Don Butler, OTTAWA CITIZEN March 14, 2014

OTTAWA — Preliminary work on the $190-million restoration of the Government Conference Centre is expected to begin next month following the awarding of key design and construction contracts last week.

PCL Constructors Canada Inc. won a $2.6-million contract to provide construction management services for the project, which will restore the crumbling, century-old heritage building on Confederation Square and transform it into a temporary home for the Senate of Canada.

One of the other firms shortlisted for the construction management contract last fall, Montreal-based Verreault Inc., was on a Government of Quebec blacklist at the time because of concerns raised by the Charbonneau commission into construction industry corruption.

Among the five shortlisted companies, Verreault was the only one that didn’t submit a bid, Public Works and Government Services Canada said in an email. Verreault and its parent company, Dessau, are now back on the list of companies eligible to bid on public-sector contracts in the province.

“After going through the tender documents, Verreault made the decision not to go ahead with the project as it was not able to respond to the demand in terms of availability of resources needed to carry out the project properly,” a Dessau spokeswoman, Rebecka Fortin, said in an emailed statement.

Public Works also selected a joint venture of two architectural firms — Diamond Schmitt Architects of Toronto and KWC Architects of Ottawa — as prime consultant for the project’s design and implementation. They will be paid $3.6 million.

The Government Conference Centre, once Ottawa’s central train station, has not had a major overhaul since the 1970s and is in poor condition.

The urgent need to fix up the building coincided with the government’s requirement to find an interim home for the Senate, which must vacate the Red Chamber to make way for a decade-long restoration of the Centre Block set to begin in 2018.

As well as general repairs to the Conference Centre building, the project involves the creation of a temporary Senate chamber, 21 offices, three committee rooms and other support spaces. The building will revert to its current use as a conference centre once the Centre Block restoration is finished, likely about 2028.

The contract awarded to PCL covers only pre-construction advice and minor construction work, but includes an option for the main construction work and related management services. Public Works expects to award that contract this fall.

The total estimated cost of hard construction for the Conference Centre project is $91.8 million, with substantial completion scheduled for December 2017.

Diamond Schmitt was founded in 1975 by Jack Diamond and Donald Schmitt. KWC is a mid-size Ottawa firm founded in 1978 by Stephan Katz.

The two firms have worked together before. They collaborated on the design of the University of Ottawa’s new Faculty of Social Sciences Building, a 16-storey tower linked to the '50s-era Vanier Building, which opened in 2012.

As prime consultant, the firms will prepare the design, commission required services and be responsible for cost, scheduling and project control.

[email protected]

twitter.com/ButlerDon
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/ottawa...erence+Centre+project/9614937/story.html

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Boxster

This would of been a great opportunity to get rid of the senate altogether.

That would have been awesome front page news!! "No room for Senate, abolished".

[Mikeed]

Security fencing going up:

http://imgur.com/C32JxkC,2OFcRaF,ZzR8OV3#0

[rakerman]

I think "Proposed" can be removed.

PWGSC has a page up about the rehabilitation

http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/collinedupa...l/batir-building/mod-conference-eng.html

[J.OT13]

To bad they won't tear down the 70s extension at the back, remove the top floor addition, restore the dome, do something with the Rideau/Sussex intersection and, while we are at it, give the building a new public use instead of handing it over to an unelected governing body.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

To bad they won't tear down the 70s extension at the back, remove the top floor addition, restore the dome, do something with the Rideau/Sussex intersection and, while we are at it, give the building a new public use instead of handing it over to an unelected, unconstitutional governing body.

Unconstitutional?

[J.OT13]

I might have gone a bit too far.

[Catenary]

I noticed that the intersection of Colonel By and Daly has had an additional set of signal heads installed facing the Canal/Conference Centre, currently wrapped up in garbage bags. There is no road for them to face towards, so I'm guessing they're for construction access to the GCC. There's also an overhead sensor installed on the Canal side of the lights, which would trigger this new phase.

Traffic Signal aren't on Streetview, but are on these poles:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.424255,-7...1!3m2!1sD7VtLMlkTsguweOmHMn3bg!2e0?hl=en

[rocketphish]

Kitchen discord: Ex-premier says Senate's plans for mini-museum perpetuate a 'myth'

Jordan Press, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: February 22, 2015, Last Updated: February 22, 2015 5:44 PM EST



It is about the size of a parking space in Ottawa, but it is causing an almost constitutional-sized crisis in the Senate.

The space in question is about 15 square metres on the fourth floor of the Government Conference Centre. It is, as Canadian mythology goes, the space where a deal was struck to save negotiations to repatriate the Constitution, an incident that has become known as the “Kitchen Accord.”

That story is why the Senate has asked that the space to be added back into the conference centre plans as the building is made ready to become the temporary home of the upper chamber when the Centre Block is closed for renovations. The Senate wants the kitchen to become a mini-museum piece.

The question for some senators is: Why spend money on the space when the story of the “Kitchen Accord” is more fiction than fact?

Brian Peckford, the former premier of Newfoundland and Labrador who is now seen as a central player in saving the constitutional talks in the early 1980s, said recreating the space would give credence to a debunked version of events. He said the Senate shouldn’t go ahead with the plans.

“What is the point of that?” Peckford said in an interview. “The historical record … needs to be clean and clear on this. It’s important for history and it’s important for people coming after us.”

Two narratives have come out about what happened on the night of Nov. 4, 1981, with the fate of the constitutional talks hanging in the balance. Delegates at the federal-provincial conference were mired in the thorny issues of an amending formula for the Constitution. There were also concerns from the provinces that then-prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms was too broad in scope, while the federal government worried about the provinces’ request for a “notwithstanding” clause to override provisions.

The popular narrative was that it was in the tiny kitchen that future prime minister Jean Chrétien and the attorneys general Roy McMurtry of Ontario and Roy Romanow of Saskatchewan hammered out a compromise that saved the talks from failure. The incident was dubbed the “Kitchen Accord,” and received media attention, including from a young CBC reporter at the time named Mike Duffy — the same Mike Duffy who later became a senator and now faces criminal charges over his expenses.

Peckford heard that narrative once back home in Newfoundland. It wasn’t quite right.

Three years ago, Peckford went public with his own story of how it was his provincial delegation that came up with the compromise agreement.

Peckford said it was in the Saskatchewan suite of the Château Laurier hotel that officials from British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan pored over a written proposal from Newfoundland. Other provinces were then brought in. The proposal formed the basis of the final agreement. It was the culmination of more than a year of talks and secret meetings.

“We were trying to find some roadmap that accommodated some of the things the federal government (wanted) … and to protect the fundamental rights of provinces,” Peckford said. “There was great tension at the time and we were finally able to forge the deal.”

In a letter to the Senate, Peckford argued that recreating the kitchen would “validate a constitutional myth” about how the deal was done. The letter goes on to say that since Peckford’s 2012 book on the talks was published, “not one person has questioned the accuracy of my account of events concerning the patriation process.”

Senators on the internal economy committee are now asking questions about whether they need to reconstitute the space, or pay to make it a museum that would be shown to visiting dignitaries and guests.

Conservative Sen. Norman Doyle, who was Peckford’s parliamentary secretary at the time of the constitutional talks and now is a member of the internal economy committee, said that if the Senate wants to mark history at the conference centre, it should make sure it is based on fact.

“If you’re going to put a display in there that gives the impression that it was somehow concocted by McMurtry, Romanow and Chrétien in the kitchen, and they came up with the necessary wording that would break the impasse — that’s just not true,” he said.

“It’s our duty, I think, to make it accurate, as accurate as it can be.”

[email protected]
Twitter.com/jpress

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/k...-plans-for-mini-museum-perpetuate-a-myth

[rocketphish]

Renovation of Senate's temporary home $29M over budget
Century-old building in Ottawa, future home for Senate, in far worse shape than expected

By Dean Beeby, CBC News Posted: Jul 07, 2015 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Jul 07, 2015 5:00 AM ET



Fixing up a temporary home for the Senate has gone over budget by at least $29 million, and Public Works wants to squeeze office-relocation costs for senators to make up the difference.

But senators are pushing back.

The Senate chamber is being moved to Ottawa's old railway station starting in 2018, when the Centre Block of Parliament Hill — the Senate's current location — is slated for a major renovation that will take a decade or more.

Public Works had budgeted $190 million to renovate the 1912 heritage structure that sits alongside the Rideau Canal, and to fix it up as a temporary Senate chamber for at least a decade.

But over the last few months, engineers and architects have more closely inspected the roof, walls, columns and floors and have found a crumbling heritage structure in far worse shape than they thought.

"After beginning demolition work … it became evident that the deteriorated state of the building and the degree of structural upgrades required to meet modern building seismic codes were higher than anticipated," said Public Works spokesman Pierre-Alain Bujold.

"Additional work now required includes removing and reinforcing existing floor slabs, reinforcing beams and columns throughout the building."

There's also advanced corrosion of the cast-iron-framed windows throughout the building. The coffered plaster ceilings in the grand hall and concourse have significant structural problems. The building, converted to a government conference centre after the railways left in 1966, has not been upgraded since the 1970s.

Public Works estimates rehabilitation now will cost $219 million — and says it is trying to stay on budget by cutting back on the $80 million earmarked to relocate and fit up offices for 27 senators displaced by the Centre Block renovations. Those relocation costs also include extra space for postal services, security, a loading dock and more.

The department wants the Senate to accept new offices farther away from the temporary Senate chamber than first agreed, in downtown Ottawa, which an internal document says could save $24.5 million over 13 years.

"[Public Works] has sought approval from the Senate to expand the geographical boundaries … thereby increasing the possibilities of finding suitable accommodation, reducing leasing costs and increasing leasing options," says a Jan. 30 briefing note for the minister, Diane Finley.

But "there was a pushback from the Senate," says Michel Patrice, law clerk of the Senate, who is in charge of the relocation file for the Red Chamber.

Patrice says the Senate would prefer offices in the Central Chambers Building on Elgin Street, close to the new Senate home, and where there are already some Senate administrative offices. He adds that having Senate offices farther from the temporary home introduces security concerns, heightened in light of the Oct. 22 shootings at the National War Memorial and on Parliament Hill.

The issue so far is unresolved, and the Senate — already vilified for expense scandals of its members — does not want to be cast as the heedless spender of public money in its dispute with Public Works.

"We've told Public Works all along, give us the most cost-effective solution that we have before us," says Senator Leo Housakos, recently named Speaker of the Senate.

Housakos says Public Works has been overestimating the cost of fitting up offices closer to the refurbished railway stations, and says the department must review its numbers again before trying to push some senators away from their new home.

There has been no agreement yet. Meanwhile, Public Works says the unexpected problems discovered in the old railway station have not changed the scheduled 2018 completion date for the rehabilitation.

Follow @DeanBeeby on Twitter

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/renovation-of-senate-s-temporary-home-29m-over-budget-1.3135855

[ACmodels]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

[B]Renovation of Senate's temporary home $29M over budget
Century-old building in Ottawa, future home for Senate, in far worse shape than expected

uhh abolish the Senate now so the Government/we does not have to pay for this.