City officials are looking for someone to help keep a planned new transit and fleet facility, along with its $201 million budget, on track and moving forward.
Efforts are underway to name a construction manager for the project.
“It’s going to be, probably, a very complicated site,” said deputy CAO Jayne Holmes, explaining a construction manager would oversee cost and "constructability issues," as well as advise on scheduling. “We thought we’d bring them in early … so that when we do get to a final design, we know that’s already been taken into account.”
Construction of the planned Guelph Transit and city fleet services building is set for city-owned lands along Dunlop Drive, beside the Waste Resource Innovation Centre, near the intersection of Stone Road East and Watson Parkway South.
The facility is meant for maintenance and storage of the city’s buses and other fleet vehicles, as well as the charging of electric vehicles, replacing outdated infrastructure in place now.
The project is included in the finalized 2024 to 2027 capital budget, with $34 million set aside for it in 2026 and another $167 million in 2027, for a total of $201 million. However, changes may be made during annual budget confirmation hearings.
As explained on the city’s website, the cost of the facility is set to be largely paid for through property taxes (66 per cent), along with development charges (23 per cent) and grants (11 per cent).
In 2022, the city hired a construction manager to oversee the South End Community Centre project after bids to build it came in more than 50 per cent above the council-approved budget of $80 million.
Council subsequently increased the budget to $115.5 million and scaled back some aspects of the plan, including the removal of some hallway and courtyard spaces.
If the transit and fleet project goes ahead as currently planned, the overall floor area would be more than 40,000 square metres, with nearly three-quarters of that dedicated to transit services.
It’s expected to be built in a phased process over several years.
As of Friday, 35 companies had downloaded documents regarding the city’s call for a construction manager. The request for proposals was published on March 18 and is set to close on May 13.
Council will decide after that who should be hired for the job.
Initially, additional city services were proposed to be amalgamated at the planned facility, but staff reduced the size and scope of the project last year following analysis of environmental and archaeological studies of the site.
The plan now calls for those additional departments to be housed at other city-owned sites, much as they are now.
In late 2019, city council directed staff to develop a business case for the proposed centralized campus, which was estimated at the time to cost in the range of $200 million, that would see a variety of city services amalgamated on that site.
