The upgrade to the Terrace and District Aquatic Centre is slightly behind schedule, but crews are aiming for a March 30 completion next year.
That’s only a month later then what was originally planned, and director of leisure services Carmen Didier says the actual pool opening will likely take place another month after that.
“We’ve already started a lot of our training with the new staff,” said Didier, noting that prior staff will need to be re-certified.
“We’ll need probably about three weeks in order to get our procedures in place, learning the equipment ourselves, learning what our capacities are, and we have to go through our pool safety plan,” she said.
She added that other municipalities have cautioned them against throwing a big free swim upon opening, saying its better for pool systems and staff if they ease into operations.
Work on the pool has been ongoing since March 2017 with Viking Construction as the lead contractor.
As for costs, the pool upgrade has dipped into the contingency fund by $292,241 in addition to the $6.6 million of the original contract.
But that still leaves nearly half of the $528,500 contingency budget available.
Architect Bruce Carscadden explained that extra costs are normal for any construction project, especially renovations.
“Every construction project carries a contingency, because you know in the real world that nothing is going to go perfectly,” he said.
He and architectural project captain Ted Whitley said the extra costs are mostly due to issues around lead paint in the building, as well as dealing with rot in the ceiling and a number of plumbing and electrical issues.
A full breakdown of the contingency costs was included in a presentation by architects at a City of Terrace committee of the whole meeting on Monday, Dec. 11.
The list included the following: $90,478 for hazardous materials abatement (lead paint), $81,329 for structural rot repair, $71,519 for an upgrade to entry doors to the facility and accessibility improvements in the lobby.
It also included close to $31,000 for plumbing and drainage changes, $15,000 for repairing severed underground electrical lines and close to $2,300 for a duct bank in the fitness room foundation.
The project, which has been ongoing since March 2017, is already taking significant shape, with the new, 2,000-square-foot fitness centre prominently featured in the front of the building with large windows to create a natural light.
Concrete was poured last week around what will be the new leisure pool and hot tub area. The now-larger leisure pool will have a lazy river, water cannon and other fun water features.
A large family change room and new lobby area are also being completed, as well as more depth and wheelchair access to the main lane pool.
