The township will hire a construction manager rather than a general contractor to oversee building of a new municipal maintenance facility.
After meeting with facility designers Chamberlain Architects on May 12, council passed a resolution to receive the final design and contract format and to authorize staff and Chamberlain Architects to accept the plans and specifications for the facility and proceed with a Canadian Construction Documents Committee (CCDC) Construction Management Contract.
Council also directed public works director Brad McRoberts to evaluate construction management options and make a recommendation to council. McRoberts noted Chamberlain Architects themselves could be one candidate, but other possibilities would be investigated.
A presentation by Chamberlain Architects indicated a number of advantages to the “construction manager” approach.
The architects indicated a 50 per cent reduction in bonding costs could result from the ability to bond only major or selected trades, rather than bonding on the entire contract amount.
They also said under construction management the project owner selects subtrades through an open tendering process, while a general contractor would select their own subtrades.
Chamberlain officials pointed out if the general contractor is not local there is a good chance the sub-contractors will not be local either.
“It actually gives us more control,” noted Mayor Neil Driscoll.
The architects also indicated construction management fees would be 3% compared to 5 to 10% for general contractors. They also pointed out all costs would be disclosed under the construction management approach, while a general contractor would not disclose actual costs.
While expressing some concern about deviating from the established process, councillor Dennis Craven said, “I do have confidence in director McRoberts’ abilities” to make the approach work.
With the approval of the 2015 budget on March 31, Mapleton council approved a layout design for the new facility, at an estimated cost of $5,433,000, which will be funded through insurance recovery, a municipal debenture and reserves/reserve funds. Development charges will also be leveraged for the project.
The new facility will be built at the municipal administration office site on Sideroad 16. It will replace both a previous building on the same site that burned down in December 2013, and another maintenance facility in Moorefield.
