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Alder Pool project cost rises to $6.1 million

December 2, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

The cost of replacing the pool liners at the Alder Street Recreation Centre just got more expensive.

Back in July of this year, when Council originally voted 7-0 to replace the leisure and lap pool’s vinyl liners with stainless steel, the project’s estimated cost was $4.33 million largely due to rising costs of steel.

Now the project’s price tag has risen to roughly $6.1 million, since structural defects have been uncovered as the pool replacement construction was being carried out.

“I find myself or ourselves in an unfortunate situation to report more deterioration that we found with the structural columns… isolated to the pool area,” said Ray Osmond, general manager of community services for the Town.

There are 12 to 16 columns that need to be cut out and replaced due to deterioration, which is an expensive task, said Osmond.

The project is also going to be delayed from its initial expected completion date of the end of December.

“This will delay the pool portion by anywhere from two to three months, given the significance of this job, because essentially, what happens is the structural engineers and the structural contractor takes over that part of the building, and does the reno to the steel pieces,” said Osmond. “Once that’s completed, then the original contractor, if you would, is doing the pool piece. We’ll move back on site and continue with the installation of our… two stainless steel pools.”

The funding for $990,000 of the added costs for the $6.1 million pool liner replacement project is being funded through an existing line of credit at the Town, while the remainder is being covered through reserves. This is to prevent any further delays in the project.

Coun. Joe Andrews asked Osmond if he could assure Council that the structural deficiency for the pool is isolated to that area, to which he responded that he was correct.

“Every five to six years do a structural assessment of all of our buildings and we have no issues in the other parts of our buildings, both Alder or Tony Rose,” said Osmond.

“So this is really isolated due to the aquatics environment and due to the environment being really surrounded by water and dealing with water… It has created all these problems, and it will be isolated and stays isolated, so there’s no concern for the general public.”

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