The City of Nelson will be working with a project management company on the revitalization of the Civic Centre to better determine community needs and pursue options addressing the future of the facility.
Council received a presentation by Colliers Project Leaders this week, outlining the next steps their team will take to oversee the three main components of the project.
Project lead Kim Turner says they have a timeframe in mind but at this point it is impossible to know a definite date of completion.
“A lot of our grants have dates which we have to spend by 2026,” she says. “We are striving to complete the project ahead of that time, but it is impossible until we get the design and the dates we have to spend by.
“It is impossible until we get the design and the construction manager on board.”
The city’s director of engineering, Colin Innes, says they don’t want to rush the process, but starting the revitalization project is key to eliminating some of the risks involved.
“We are really hoping we have gained some traction here and that we’re going to start getting some procurement happening this fall,” Innes says. “We don’t want to rush it, but at the same time we want to get going with it.”
Innes says they are looking to have a construction manager onboard in the next three months.
“Especially with all the supply chain issues we want to give ourselves the room to make it work.”
Evan Woolley, director of infrastructure advisory for Colliers, says there are going to be risks associated with the project and the best they can do is try and mitigate them before they arise.
“All projects of this size and scale are risky, especially given all the labour and supply chain issues we are seeing,” Woolley says. “One thing is with this project, council has taken a significant amount of risk mitigation.
“Meaning the budget number is the number we are working towards.”
Colliers noted the major issues facing a construction project of this magnitude are supply chain and inflation.
Since the construction of the Civic Centre in 1935 there has been no significant upgrades to the facility. The building currently accounts for 30 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions from municipal facilities.