It may not be part of the Multiplex anymore, but a new daycare and preschool facility is moving toward construction as well.
On Tuesday (March 15), council unanimously approved awarding the contract for construction management services for the new daycare and preschool to ModCo Structures Ltd.
Deputy chief administrative officer Lisa de Soto said design of the facility, which will replicate the former CP Rail Roundhouse, is almost complete and is ready to put out for cost and tender.
As a result, she said the project construction committee decided to use a construction management approach and put out a request for proposals.
With five proposals submitted, de Soto said Pat Griffiths’ submission as ModCo was unique from the others because “essentially he is doing the work for free”.
“By putting his company out there first for this community structure, he would potentially have more success enticing others to do the same,” she said.
A construction management approach, added de Soto, has benefits including completing all pre-construction costing and coordination, issuing tenders, seeking out qualified local bidders and the ability to secure community contributions.
If ModCo is unable to get the facility built within the provided budget with contributions from the community, de Soto said it will come back to council.
The daycare and preschool project has a budget of only $1.9 million and is being promoted as a community-led venture as opposed to a municipal one.
Mayor Ron Casey said to date much of the effort to see the Roundhouse become a reality and provide a new home for the daycare and preschool has been driven by the community.
The idea was proposed by Alasdair Russell, with Russell and Russell Design, and Spring Creek Mountain Village developer Frank Kernick last year.
“There is a tremendous amount of volunteer time on this,” Casey said. “When we talk about volunteer contribution, there has already been hundreds of hours put in to get this to this stage.
“It has been good community effort up to now.”
Casey said the contribution of Griffiths with his construction management proposal set the tone for how the project will move forward.
ModCo’s pre-construction services bid of $1,500 was modest according to the staff report and includes planning, value engineering, sub-trade tendering, cost definition, seeking contributions and determination of a final stipulated sum tender price.
In addition to awarding the contract, council approved a terms of reference document and membership for a construction committee to oversee the project.
It includes the mayor, de Soto, manager of engineering Kevin Van Vliet and Ken Riordon from the Canadian Rockies Public School division.
The location of the new daycare and preschool is at the Lawrence Grassi Middle School site.
