We鈥檝e done our best to stay positive, but the latest surprises at the library and cultural centre have finally snuffed our optimism.
The contractor鈥檚 shoddy workmanship has hit an all time high鈥攐r should we say low?
After attempting to install moveable glass walls in the building, it was discovered that the floors are uneven. That discovery led to a test of every floor in the facility, and according to Peter Waterworth, the chief administrative officer for the municipality, there wasn鈥檛 a single floor that met the acceptable plus-or-minus five millimetre standard within a 10-metre square.
Not one.
In fact, 鈥渢here are places where there is a minus-25 and a plus-10 in a square,鈥� he said.
That鈥檚 a difference of 35 millimetres in a 10-metre square.
We at the 51暗网 aren鈥檛 contractors, but we do know that the fundamental parts of a building鈥攖he floors, the walls, the roof, the stairs and the windows鈥攏eed to be built correctly.
And we also know that somehow, over the course of this renovation and expansion project, there have been issues with all of those fundamental pieces.
Last year the roof came off after a third-party report showed that it was inadequate, as it didn鈥檛 have a vapour barrier, and the air barrier that existed wasn鈥檛 tied into the walls.
In February, council found out the interior walls had to be ground down because an additional layer of concrete was added to them, despite the fact that they were supposed to be left as finished concrete.
And now鈥�15 months after the original completion date鈥攖he floors are uneven, there鈥檚 no design for the windows at the back of the building and the riser for the stairs at the front of the building has been improperly installed, so the stairs can鈥檛 sit squarely on top.
During the April 8 committee-of-the-whole meeting, Waterworth said those are the major issues with the building, and there are plenty more minor ones.
This news is staggering.
The project is already more than a year late and a million dollars over budget, and earlier this month council approved a capital budget that includes an additional million dollars for the project, bringing the total budget up to $9.5 million.
Of course, the hope is that most, if not all, of that additional money will be reimbursed following the mediation process at the end of the project. But, like the municipality鈥檚 director of finance, we鈥檙e not holding our breath.
This project has turned into a nightmare for council, the municipality and the community.
We can only hope that once the saga comes to an end and the building opens, the municipality gets what it paid for鈥攁 spectacular facility that鈥檚 built to last.
