SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - After receiving $300,000 from Aviva Community Fund, the NWT SPCA now is attempting to get the ball rolling on lot selection, facility design and construction, which must be completed by December.

NWT SPCA president Nicole Spencer said the organization has about $400,000, including the Aviva funding and money generated by an outpouring of donations from the community in the past few months. Spencer said the new shelter is being designed as a 3,000-square-foot, one-level facility with approximately 30 indoor dog kennels which have access to the outside, as well as 10 outdoor kennels with houses, and a dog run and a cat room. It will come to about $600,000 in total.

"We need about $200,000 to complete the facility," said Spencer. "It's for all the communities and so we're hoping all the communities and all the businesses throughout the NWT can help us get the money that we need."

Aviva Canada has set a year-end deadline for the shelter to be in place, and Glenn Cooper, senior manager of public relations with the insurance company which awarded the SPCA with the money at the end of a nationwide competition, said this is just to encourage the organization to get the ball rolling.

"It's not like there's a set consequence where there's a rule. We've never encountered it," said Cooper.

"Plans are one thing but taking action is another. We certainly don't want to see funds tied up for years or years in a planning process. We want to see the funds into action in short-term."

The NWT SPCA does not get the $300,000 funding in a lump sum. As the facility proceeds and as the costs surface, the NWT SPCA will notify Aviva by sending invoices for the funds to be allocated in increments.

"We are also required to give them a monthly report on our progress starting next month. It's as-you-go. It's very, very monitored and allocated very carefully," said Spencer.

She said the first step is acquiring the land to build the shelter. The NWT SPCA is currently working with the city to secure land, but Spencer said she can't yet disclose what area is being discussed.

"We're working on a design and we have a preliminary drawing that we came up with," she said.

She said, given the constraints of building in the North, the organization is still facing challenges.

"We're in a difficult position because the ground is still frozen and we can't really do anything."

Spencer said the high cost of building in the North is intimidating, but she hopes through fundraising and donations, the organization can develop its facility on budget.

"We had an idea of what we wanted as a shelter but we also have to consider costs so we had to bring the scale of the shelter down," said Spencer.

"Who can donate doors, or can we get the windows for cost and we need an energy-efficient washer and dryer. That's what's going to help us, that's what's going to get us there."

Dave Brothers, general manager with Clark Builders, has come on board as construction manager for the NWT SPCA, offering management services free of charge.

"They're going to be requiring as much support from the community as possible," said Brothers.

"We're just helping the SPCA along to get this thing going because they don't have the means or the methods to build a building like this."

He said, so far, drawings have been developed and the next step is to work the design through structural, mechanical and electrical engineering aspects.

"There is a schematic design, or preliminary design, and that's been done already but it's still too early to go for pricing from the local sub-traders ... but it's getting close," said Brothers.

He said the next step is to get material at the best possible price through tenders.

"Hopefully all the trades that are pricing this will realize that the SPCA is a non-profit group, it's for the good of the community and the NWT. We're expecting to see a lot of support from the trades that are pricing this thing to do this and give them a good price so they can build the building they need on budget."

He said $600,000 is the budget Clark Builders is working with but it's hard to determine if doing the work on budget is possible until the site is settled on. Brothers also said an end-of-the-year deadline is "doable" if the lot is decided upon and the design is completed in the near future.

"If we start here in mid- to late-spring, it should be no problem to get this building done," said Brothers.

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