Tendering problems cause one-year delay in National Holocaust Monument
Don Butler, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: August 9, 2015 | Last Updated: August 9, 2015 8:19 PM EDT
The National Holocaust Memorial, one of the Conservative government’s signature new monuments in Ottawa, is badly behind schedule and now won’t officially open until spring 2017 — a year later than planned.
The monument, to be built at Booth and Wellington streets opposite the Canadian War Museum, will be the largest and most complex monument created in the capital since the National War Memorial in 1939.
The original timetable called for construction to start last March, with completion in December and an inauguration ceremony on May 4, 2016 — Yom HaShoah, the Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day.
But the project ground to a halt when bids from pre-qualified firms for the construction contract came in well above budget, said Margi Oksner, executive director of the National Holocaust Monument Development Council, created in 2011 to raise money for the project.
“We weren’t sure what caused that,” Oksner said. “We were all surprised by it. None of us felt that our original estimates were loopy.”
The overall budget for the monument is about $8 million, including construction costs, artist fees, site studies and preparation, the fabrication of artistic elements and the cost of the national design competition.
The development council has raised $4.4 million to date and the federal government has contributed $4 million.
“We were not interested in going over budget,” said Oksner, who said the project’s proponents still believe their cost estimate is correct. “There’s no question we can do this within our budget.”
The monument consists of six concrete and metal mesh triangular walls displaying large landscape photos by famed photographer Edward Burtynsky. The walls will be arrayed in the form of a Star of David, enclosing a central area and a contemplation space featuring an eternal flame.
“We are getting there slowly but surely,” said Rabbi Daniel Friedman, chair of the development council. “Fundraising is on track to build the most impressive holocaust monument in the world.”
After the construction contract bids came in well over budget, the National Capital Commission, which is responsible for the monument’s construction and will assume ownership once it’s completed, surveyed the contractors.
Its findings convinced the council and the project team that the contractors had “overestimated a lot of things,” Oksner said. “For example, they overestimated the amount of concrete compared to what we estimated by something like 80 per cent.”
To reduce costs, the project team has made a few minor changes to the monument design, Oksner said.
Architect Daniel Libeskind has reduced the size of a high wall near the entrance to the monument — something he been thinking about doing anyway — to make the monument more welcoming for visitors, Oksner said.
The project team has also abandoned plans to put a heating system underneath the entire monument to allow easy access in winter.
Now, just the central space and meditation area will have underground heating, said Oksner. “To do the whole thing is not necessary.”
Nor will there be any construction in winter “because there’s an enormous cost to that,” Oksner said. “That’s one of the reasons we’re slowed down.”
The construction contract will be re-tendered over the winter, with the aim of starting construction in early spring 2016 and completing it by winter of 2016.
The monument is now scheduled to be unveiled on April 24, 2017, the day that Yom HaShoah falls on that year.
The development council and project team plan to hire a construction management adviser to provide advice and negotiate price reductions with firms that bid on the construction contract this winter.
“From everything we’ve learned, this is really going to make a big difference,” Oksner said.
The NCC prepared — but never distributed — a media release updating the monument’s status in June.
In a draft version of the release, NCC chief executive Mark Kristmanson is quoted as saying the revised design and process will allow the NCC to build the monument “with better control on the costs while remaining consistent with the quality of the original design concept.”
Oksner, who called the tendering problem “just a little blip,” said the development council was determined to stick to its budget because fundraising right now is “a tough haul.
“We’ve done a great job,” she said. “We were to raise $4.5 million. We’re at about $4.4 million. We weren’t worried about that. But if we would have had to go out and raise more, we were starting to suffer from donor fatigue.”
The council is also seeking in-kind donations for some of the needed construction materials. Oksner said. “Things like concrete and rebar we might be able to get, if not wholly donated, at least partially donated.”
[email protected]
twitter.com/ButlerDon
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/t...ear-delay-in-national-holocaust-monument
Prev
Linear Mode
