Perth County council has approved a contingency allowance bump of $100,000 for the ongoing renovation project to its courthouse campus in Stratford after the discovery of an oil tank at the back of the building that county staff believe was part of the original heating system.
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This discovery has also delayed work by Stratford-based Festival Hydro. This is the second increase to the contingency allowed approved for the project after council endorsed a $150,000 jump in April. Both increases are on top of the $200,000 contingency that was originally budgeted for the project.
The total cost of the project, which now includes a separately budgeted generator, sits at $5,450,800, plus HST.
John McClelland, executive director of public works, was on hand to make the request at council’s Thursday morning meeting. Along with this discovery, there was evidence of contaminated soil surrounding the tank, McClelland told council. An environmental contractor and geotechnical engineer were brought, and both the tank and contaminated soils have now been removed. Staff, though are still waiting on sample tests to determine if any further remediation is needed.
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“As of yesterday, I’m fairly confident that we understand that extent and have removed the contaminated material. But until we get those test results to confirm that, we’re not out of the woods yet,” McClelland said on Thursday.
Once completed, the project will connect the Perth County courthouse with the neighboring county land registry building. The project is intended to establish a single headquarters for county staff through renovations to the building that houses the land registry office while creating a central, public-facing reception area within the connecting link to the courthouse.
According to the report to council, it is common to see the contingencies funds of similar projects set between eight to 14 per cent of the total, while the $350,000 contingency for this project represents seven per cent of the overall cost.
Significant progress as been made in other areas of the renovation, however, with the majority of the project on schedule, McClelland said. According to McClelland, the project is set to be completed some time in October or early November, which is only a slight delay of the original September target.
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