Iqaluit pool construction on time, on budget, manager says

Iqaluit’s new aquatic centre could be open by January 2017, the project manager for the job said June 15. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)

Pierre Meredith, project manager for the Iqaluit aquatic centre construction job. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)

The construction of Iqaluit’s new aquatic facility is proceeding on schedule for a 2017 completion date and might even come in below budget.

That’s according to an update given to Iqaluit city councilors by the pool’s senior project manager, Pierre Meredith, at a regular Iqaluit City Council meeting June 14.

“We will definitely come in on budget or below. The overall budget is $40 million,” he said.

“Overall, the work is progressing very well.”

More than $38 million of the project’s forecasted budget has already been committed and $25 million has been invoiced to date, he said.

Meredith told councillors that construction crews are well into the interior construction phase of the project and have nearly finished tiling and water tests on the leisure and lap pools.

“All the structural work is completed. That was done in December before the winter shutdown. Work resumed in early March,” Meredith said.

According to paperwork submitted to council, contractors have completed nearly half of their construction milestones, with a tentative “open to public” date scheduled for Jan 1, 2017.

However Meredith told councilors that the project is experiencing setbacks in obtaining “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design,” or LEED, certification — a stated energy performance objective — since planning on the pool first began.LEED certification is an independently verified inspection, conducted by the Canada Green Building Council, that checks for “sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality,” according to the CGBC website.

One of the factors in obtaining that certification involves connecting the aquatic center into the Qulliq Energy Corp.’s waste heat system, or DES, which circulates heat to buildings collected through the exhaust of the city’s diesel electrical generators.

“Currently, there’s no agreement in place with QEC to have that system installed,” Meredith said.

“That’s put some of the project objectives at risk. The building is self-sufficient in that it has all the heating systems to be self-sufficient. But a connection to the DES was to achieve… a reduction in the use of oil for heating.”

Meredith said the city is working on “escalating” communications with the QEC to finalize an agreement.

Deputy Mayor Romeyn Stevenson asked Meredith to explain the delays in obtaining the waste heat hookup from the QEC.

“We’ve been told very early in the project they were receptive… We were told multiple times that it was being presented to the board of directors for approval and it seems… that every meeting it gets deferred,” Meredith explained, adding he didn’t have access to the QEC minutes of the meetings.

“It was brought up again just recently, and that was the same result, it was deferred again.”

Meredith went on to say the city’s chief administrative officer, Muhamud Hassan, as well as recreation director Amy Elgersma, plan to arrange a meeting in person with QEC Minister George Hickes.

Iqaluit Mayor Madeleine Redfern informed council she would also plan to attend that meeting.

According to the aquatics centre’s progress report, the delay connecting the waste heating system “is manageable.”

The report warned that a delay lasting longer than one year will force project managers to review agreements made with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, which provided grant money contingent on the hook-up, as well as the Canada Green Building Council, for the LEED certification.

Meredith also assured councilors that contractors plan to send much of its construction waste back south on departing sealifts this summer.

“That was part of the project, diversion of waste from the landfill,” he said.

Iqaluit’s city council is scheduled to meet again June 28.