Construction of two long-awaited projects in the city are set to begin this year – a new central library in the downtown core and the South End Community Centre (SECC).
During Wednesday’s 2023 budget confirmation meeting, deputy CAO Jayne Holmes told city council a groundbreaking ceremony for the library is expected to take place this spring, with the first shovels in the ground for the SECC in late summer or early autumn.
Both projects have been discussed for many years and were approved by council in 2020.
The actual cost of each is unknown at this time, though council approved the library with a price tag of $62 million and $80 million for the SECC. However, capital costs have spiked since then.
Holmes said the library is expected to be opened in early 2026, with the SECC slated for a mid-2026 opening.
When approved by council, construction of each was expected to begin in 2022, with a tentative opening for the community centre in late 2024 and the library opened in late 2025 and completed in 2026.
The SECC was put on hold last April after the lowest of three bids to build it came in at $121 million. Since then, the city hired a construction manager to work with staff on the project’s phasing, materials, scope and construction delivery options.
Council is expected to receive a report on that progress during its March 7 committee of the whole meeting. Any decision made that day will need to be ratified by council before it becomes official – something that typically happens at council’s end-of-month meeting, set for March 28.
The library project and nearby public spaces is expected to go out to tender before the end of March through a construction management model, Ian Scott, the city’s manager of facility design and construction, recently told GuelphToday via email. He explained a general contractor is in place, with all sub-trades work to be openly tendered.
If that process comes in over the $62 million budget, city council will once again be asked to weigh in on the project and reconsider the amount of funds allocated to it.
