Quote:
Originally Posted by hunter12
The Star Phoenix building is for sale for under $10 million. It is 16,000 square feet larger than the proposed library. Could it be renovated and repurposed into a new library for less that the library's construction budget? The only thing the library folks would lose is the palace they want to build.
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If the library was only about storing books, the Star Phoenix building would be perfect. It has large floorplates and was built to industrial standards in order to support the printers.
But the library is about more than just storing books. The imagined library is more like a community centre that also has a library component. And downtown sorely needs more community amenities, not just because of the number of residents and because the central location makes downtown amenities accessible to residents across the city, but also because the most needy citizens (homeless, jobless, penniless) are disproportionally located downtown.
When you learn about what sorts of events libraries host (social services advising, SGI defensive driving courses, small drama productions) you realize that a building that can hold plenty of bookshelves but has structural support pillars all over the place (as the Starphoenix building does) that would hinder the development of any flexible use spaces is maybe not the right choice. Talk about throwing good money after bad.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oiler
Sure, it’s harsh but when you are off as much as they were, and you were part
of effectively wasting $7ish million in public money on an unuseable design… heads gotta roll… 
Doesn’t mean they are bad people. In fact many of the people involved are great people and well respected in the design community.
That said, maybe they weren’t given a clear mandate, or they didn’t know what they were doing (in over their head), or they simply messed up.
But damn, do you really give the same
Group another $5m or so to get it right this time? |
Based on the following blurb it seems like the cost consultants should be replaced, but I am not sure what else you wanted the board to do.
Quote:
From the outset of this project, SPL applied rigorous cost-control measures to provide the highest cost certainty for taxpayers. The steps taken to manage the budget were:
1. Hired two independent cost consultants.
At the end of each design phase, both cost consultants received the architectural drawings and provided cost estimates based on those drawings.
2. Completed five cost estimates between April 2021 and April 2023.
If an estimate exceeded the budget, both cost consultants initiated a value engineering process. This process recommended cost savings options for consideration by SPL, and any changes adopted were implemented in updated design plans before and the design team revised the plans to align the design with the construction budget before proceeding to the next stage. Typically, a project of this scale completes up to three cost estimates by a single consultant.
3. Increased the escalation allowance as the project progressed.
When the cost escalation began increasing beyond historical industry standards, we had our project assessed for inflationary impacts. As a result, we increased the escalation allowance from 3% to 15% of the construction budget. The Building Construction Price Index for Saskatoon for non-residential buildings from Q1 of 2019 to Q1 of 2023 increased by 15.75%.
4. Reallocated the project budget to increase the construction budget.
Construction cost estimates increased from $73.3 million after the first cost estimate to $81.1 million in the final cost estimate. Increases to the construction budget were addressed by reallocating funds from within other project budget line items.
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