Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (May 15/02) - City staff are scrambling to come up with solutions after initial tenders for the new twin-pad arena came in $1.4 million over budget.

The total budgeted cost for the arena was $11.267 million. The unforeseen cost may be a result of rocketing costs for trades work, said some city officials.

According to sources close to the city, administration is working to narrow the funding gap by looking at changes to the arena's building plans. There is a possibility that other planned city capital projects may need to be delayed.

Construction of the arena is still on schedule. The first pad is expected to open in September.

The city has also approached the arena fundraising committee about the possibility of raising funds toward the first pad of the new arena. The committee is currently working to raise the estimated $2.8 million needed to construct the arena's second surface.

"We're disappointed that the estimates (have) come in like that, but we're still committed to getting this done and getting it done right," said fundraising committee vice-chair Doug Ashby. "I think our fundraising group would say we're committed to seeing both pads completed as soon as we can have them both completed."

"As with anything, once you get the tenders and add them up, if they don't work out, you look at what's possible to change," said Mayor Gord Van Tighem. He added that before any cost-cutting decisions are made, "first the people that are managing it have to do analyzing and reworking."

Van Tighem said he didn't know whether an extra call for tenders had been considered.

City councillors and city staff either refused to comment or said they hadn't heard about the cost overruns.

"I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about," said Coun. Ben McDonald.

"As far as I was aware, we were on track," said Coun. Dave McCann when informed by Yellowknifer. "That's exactly the kind of thing that I'd love to get my teeth into."

"I don't have any comment whether we're over, under, anything," said senior administrator Max Hall.

Of the budgeted cost for the arena, the Department of National Defence has already paid the city $1 million, and the Yellowknife Gymnastics Club will kick in another several hundred thousand. Both groups will have their own facilities within the complex.

City community services director Grant White said a substantial number of final tenders for the arena closed on April 30. Seventeen divisions of tenders, with numerous sub-components, were due on the 30th, with tenders for things such as electrical and mechanical work, masonry, structural steel and the arena's ice plant.

"They're being reviewed now and we should know very shortly as to who's getting what," he said. Grant said he expects a final analysis of the tenders by week's end.

Part of the reason behind the late realization of extra costs is the construction approach chosen by council for the twin-pad arena.

Deciding building options

Before beginning construction on the arena, councillors were forced to decide between two options: using a traditional tender approach or co-ordinating the building through a construction manager.

A traditional tender process would force the city to have all of its plans ready before sending out a call for tenders, and would result in significant added costs if any changes were made to plans. However, this approach would produce an indication of construction cost before any ground was broken.

A construction manager would allow the city to begin construction before final plans had been completed, as calls for tender could be sent out progressively. This approach would allow extra flexibility. In the end, it was the option chosen by council -- and it delayed the date at which the full building cost was known.

In the end, only councillors Wendy Bisaro and Dave Ramsay supported the traditional tender approach. Council made the decision on April 9, 2001.

PCL Constructors Northern Inc. was hired as the construction manager.

The city first tendered out earthworks contracts. Following that, in succession, came the building's concrete pilings, pre-engineered arena exterior shell and mechanical contracts, said White.

Workers are currently attaching roof sheeting to a skeletal structure for the second pad.

Work will begin later this week on erecting the skeleton for the first pad. The exterior shell will follow soon after.

Coun. McCann, who sided with the traditional tender process in principle but voted for construction management, said it's too early to tell whether it was a good idea.

"We'll only know when it's finished," said McCann.

Fundraising to begin soon

The fundraising committee plans to begin its work in earnest this week, when it releases a brochure outlining sponsorship costs for different parts of the new arena. For example, the name of the facility will cost a sponsor $500,000.

However, the committee has already secured about $100,000 in sponsorship commitments.