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New Prince George fire hall $2 million over expected budget

Fire hall $2M over budget

Construction of a new fire hall in Prince George is $2 million over budget.

City director of infrastructure and public works Adam Homes says the new main hall is expected to cost the city $17 million by the time construction is complete this fall.

"This is the one project we're expecting to be over budget," Homes said. "The building itself did get bigger. Some of the program spaces were too small."

The original design called for a 21,000-square-foot building, but the final design will be 26,000 square feet Homes told city council. The additional space was needed for a fire dispatch centre and larger mechanical room.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused some supply-chain disruptions and difficulties finding the needed tradespeople, Homes said. Those delays have added costs to the project.

When clearing the site, crews also found a layer of old construction debris – things like concrete and old tires – that had to be removed, adding further costs.

Coun. Terri McConnachie said she understands the city couldn't have planned for the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions, but questioned why the space issues and site clearing issues weren't discovered earlier.

"It's my job to press when we're already $2 million over," McConnachie said. "It seems that this has been risen before, with geotechnical testing not finding issues. What do we need to change with out geotech investigations? Are we expecting too little?"

In October 2017, Prince George voters approved the city borrowing $15 million to construct the new fire hall in a referendum. Voters were 82.79 per cent in favour of borrowing the money.

"If the building is going to be a little bit bigger to accommodate more people, that's fair," Coun. Brian Skakun said. "(But) it's concerning we're telling people it's going to cost $15 million, and it's not. To me, it's not acceptable. I think council does have to have a firmer grip on some of these projects."



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