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$38 Million for Rec Centre/Theatre |
Author: Scott Turnbull
Published: Thursday, February 16, 2006
Of seven large construction firms, Concord, Ontario based Bondfield Construction came in as the low bidder to build Bracebridge’s new high school, recreation centre and theatre, pricing the value of the work at $38,167,000.
The second-closest bid came from Mississauga’s Percon Construction, which totalled $38,950,000. At the high end of the bids was Ottawa’s RE Hein Construction, which submitted a bid of about $43.5 million.
"Bondfield’s bid was the lowest, and their bid was clean," said Town of Bracebridge chief administrative officer Murray Clarke. "There still is some preliminary work to be done before the tender is awarded, though."
Clarke explained that over the next few days, the architectural firms for the project, Carruthers Shaw and Partners Limited and Allen & Sherriff Architects Inc., along with representatives from the Town and Trillium Lakelands District School Board, will be reviewing the bid to break out exact costs for the three components of the project — the school, theatre and recreation centre.
"Once we have the numbers broken out for each of the three main elements, we’ll work with Bondfield to see where we could achieve savings," said Clarke, noting that Bondfield’s bid is about 6 per cent over the previously budgeted cost of the project. "There’s a very positive expectation that this can and will be done."
Bondfield Construction is an experienced company in the institutional construction industry, building schools, hospitals and long-term care residences throughout Ontario.
General contractor for phase two of 2001’s South Muskoka Memorial Hospital expansion, Bondfield has also completed projects like Georgian College Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning, Queen’s University School of Business and the construction of new wings on both St. Michael’s Hospital and North York General, among many others.
John Aquino, vice-president of Bondfield, said that his company is happy to be again working in Muskoka.
"The project is interesting because it has different users and owners," said Aquino. "We’re also happy to be working with the team of consultants, many of whom we’ve worked with before."
Aquino noted that Bondfield is unionized, which means that they will be hiring local workers like labourers and carpenters, he said.
With the review of the bid expected to take until about May 30, Clarke said that he was confident that Bondfield would have "shovels in the ground" in June.
In a manner typical of large, public construction projects, the seven bids from pre-qualified contractors arrived in a flurry shortly before 3 p.m. on May 17, the time the tenders were due.
"All the bids were handed over within the last two to three minutes," said Clarke, adding that the final bid came 25 seconds before the closing. "The reason for that is that the bidders, right up until the last second, are negotiating with the suppliers and sub-trades, jockeying to arrive at the most competitive number."
The final bids were, in alphabetical order: Aquicon Construction, $39,165,000; Atlas Construction, $40,450,000; Bondfield Construction, $38,167,000; Melloul-Blamey Construction, $41,659,000; Percon Construction, $38,950,000; RE Hein Construction, $43,439,000; Vanbots Construction, $41,651,000.
Article courtesy of the Bracebridge Examiner |
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