Pelham arena on time, under budget
Pelham Ward 2 Coun. Gary Accursi is attributing three things to the town’s twin-pad arena and community centre project being on schedule and under budget.
The project management teams, city staff and the oversight committee.
He said everyone has been co-ordinating well and understands each other’s expectations, so they’ve been able to get a lot of work done below the facility’s $36-million budget.
More than 75 per cent of the total project has been tendered out, much of it to local trades.
“We’ve put a lot of money in the local economy and created a lot of jobs,” Accursi said during a phone interview.
Work that has been done by local companies and tradesmen includes, but isn’t limited to, electrical and mechanical work, brickwork and masonry, some of the materials and fireproofing. Accursi said in total there are nine Niagara trades involved in construction of the centre.
During the tender process, he said, work is often given to external companies, and Pelham felt it was important to support local companies. There wasn’t any local bias, however; he said staff and council still considered all tenders against how qualified they were, how much their services would cost and whether they could complete the work within scheduled timeframes.
He said the town is pleased that so many local tradespeople were able to get involved because there are many good workers and companies in the area.
Accursi said Ball Construction, led by project manager Robert Nippell, has done very well managing the teams on site, which has allowed for multiple areas to be worked on at once.
“They’ve done an excellent job keeping things on schedule and moving forward,” he said.
One of the things being done currently on the new building inset from the southwest corner of Highway 20 and Rice Road is bench installation. Accursi said all concrete, except for a few areas, has been poured and set, and moving forward the crews will be working on the brick and roof work next week before starting fireproofing and spray-foam installation.
The exterior is expected to be all enclosed by December.
The oversight committee, made up of Accursi as the council representative, resident Bill Gibson as chair, Bill Sheldon as citizen appointee, Nippell and additional Pelham staff members, meets monthly or bimonthly to discuss work that has been done and make any necessary recommendations to town council.
Accursi said this multi-layering of teams working on the project has helped things run smoothly. There have been no unexpected expenses or challenges and there are none in the foreseeable future.