With a final legal judgment on the redevelopment of Lansdowne Park expected to be released Monday, the city is forging ahead with several contracts to relocate the Horticulture building and remediate contaminated soils.
In a report to be presented to the finance and economic development committee on Tuesday, staff will recommend proceeding with construction plans this spring, even as the city and the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group await a decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal regarding the Friends of Lansdowne lawsuit.
An order to expedite the decision was obtained by the Lansdowne developers in September of 2011 but no answer has been provided thus far, the report states.
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The city has received three preliminary submissions for the construction of the stadium, parking garage and site services – PCL Constructors Canada Inc., EllisDon Corp. and Pomerleau are in the running – and the tender is scheduled to close in early May, according to the committee report.
City staff argue construction must go ahead in order to meet the timeline and requirements set by the Ministry of Environment’s risk assessment. This would include moving the Horticultural Building to its new location, a task which is being coordinated by CDS Building Movers, in order to remove contaminated soil from beneath and beside the building. The demolition of the Coliseum building is also required, the report states, to excavate soil beneath and next to it.
A separate tender for the soil excavation and remediation, demolition of the Coliseum building and foundation construction for the relocation of the Horticultural Building will be awarded to a company prior to the award of the main stadium and garage construction works, and this separate package will also be managed by the city. The tender has been submitted to the three aforementioned pre-qualified companies and the city is ready to receive contract bids, said Wayne Newell, the city’s general manager of infrastructure services.
The total cost of the tender will be $7.5 million, including $1.9 million for the soil remediation, $600,000 for the demolition, $3.8 million for the foundation construction and $1.2 million for other related works such as site servicing, removals and utilities.
This tender is in addition to other construction set to take place before the finalization of legal documents, including the Horticultural Building relocation ($5 million), re-adapting the building for use ($1.3 million) and other related works including relocation of memorials from site ($200,000), for a grand total of $6.5 million.
City staff recommend this $14 million total be increased from the $12.6 million previously thought necessary to complete this construction.
In addition to meeting targets required by the province, the report states that construction should go ahead as planned this June “to reduce adverse schedule impacts and to contain costs that might otherwise be caused by the delay.”
The spring timeline was determined at a council meeting in August of 2011, after FOL court appeals delayed the original construction schedule which slotted the stadium to be completed by June of 2013. Now, construction won’t be completed until at least 2015, according to media reports.
