Costs constantly under review to keep project on time and on budget
Ashley Ford
Province
Vancouver’s Convention Centre building platform, supported by thousands of piles, is scheduled for completion next summer. SAM LEUNG — THE PROVINCE
Vancouver’s ambitious, $615-million convention centre is on time and budget.
But Russ Anthony, president and project director of the Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion Project, readily acknowledges he is walking a financial tightrope and rapidly escalating construction, material and labour costs might force some changes during the final stages.
“It is worrying,” he said. “Everything is a real challenge from getting labour, to site preparation, to material costs.
“We are constantly reviewing our budgets, but I am still confident we will get there on time and on budget.”
He vows that the project, which will serve as the media centre for the 2010 Winter Olympics, will be ready by its 2008 target date.
If changes are to be made, he said, it won’t be with the building design, which is “set.”
But there may be some “wriggle room, with perhaps mechanical systems and lighting.”
It is a very big, complex project and “we are being very prudent with our costs. It is not like other buildings where you can simply make cuts, as this is a revenue-generating facility that must meet the demands of its future clients.
“I will be the happiest camper when the building platform, supported by thousands of piles, is finally completed next summer,” he said.
Anthony said site preparation has thrown up some challenges but everything is under control.
For instance, he said, who would have thought hurricane Katrina would have had an impact on the project?
“In its aftermath, every crane in the U.S. was sucked up and we were forced to go to Europe to find one.”
A massive crane, one of six that will eventually festoon the site, had to be brought in to lift the steel beams for the walls.
Time is a factor, he said, because steel work on the eastern side must be completed by the time the cruise ships start calling again next May as the crane’s boom would come too close to the ships.
The steel can only be moved at night and new construction at the Fairmont Hotel just across the street has made for a very tight working area, he said.
The “1,700 supervisors” who log on to the project’s website daily will start to see massive steel beam walls rising on the eastern section of the site in November, Anthony said.
And the first glazing, with floor-to-ceiling glass throughout the
1.1-million-square-foot building, will start next summer.
Part of the strategy to contain costs is to lock in fixed prices as early as possible, Anthony said.
“For instance, we have not let the contract for the between-the-floor concrete yet, but we have a fixed cost for the concrete in place,” he said. “We also did an early price lock-in with the glazing as well.”
Getting skilled labour, especially steel workers, is a constant headache. Consequently, there is plenty of overtime and extended working hours to keep up with the timetable. There are currently about 196 workers on site.
“We are also finding there is a great deal of worker pride on this project and that helps,” he said.
When complete, the centre will have 335,000 square feet of function space that will complement the existing convention centre space of 133,000 square feet for a total of 468,000 square feet of meeting, exhibition, ballroom and plenary theatre space.
DEALING IN DOLLARS
Some relevant numbers:
– The expansion will cost $615 million.
– The B.C. government’s contribution is $272.5 million.
– The federal government contribution is $222 million.
– Tourism Vancouver’s contribution is $90 million.
– Annual revenue generation is estimated at $30 million.
– Completion date is 2008.
– The project size is 1.1 million square feet.
– It’s estimated it will generate an additional $107 million in delegate spending annually.
– It will increase delegate days to 370,000 from the current 150,000.
– The average delegate spending while in Vancouver is $350 a day.
© The Vancouver Province 2006
