Allyson Beauregard
MANSFIELD – After three calls to tender were unsuccessful, the Bryson House Committee and the Municipality of Mansfield will be taking further measures to repair the building’s roof that has been leaking for some time. According
Allyson Beauregard
MANSFIELD – After three calls to tender were unsuccessful, the Bryson House Committee and the Municipality of Mansfield will be taking further measures to repair the building’s roof that has been leaking for some time. According
to Mansfield Director General Eric Rochon, Mansfield will be purchasing the materials needed and then inviting contractors to install them.
The original plan was to repair the Bryson House in three stages: first the roof, second the decking, and third, the inside of the building. “Since the repairs were estimated to be $100,000 by the architect, we were allowed to seek tenders by invitation. We started by inviting contractors in Fort-Coulonge and Mansfield, but there was no response. We then invited seven contractors across the Pontiac, but again, no one responded,” explained Rochon, who said the heritage nature of the building is likely the cause.
“Our architect had to follow Ministry of Culture rules for preparing the
tender since it is a heritage building, which is very complicated. The Ministry is very strict,” he added.
For their third attempt, the Committee asked their architect to reach out to anyone he might know who would be interested in doing the work. They received two tenders, but both were priced well over the original estimate, coming in at about $160,000 and $240,000.
According to Rochon, the $100,000 estimate may be too low for those who are not local. “The companies were from Montreal so they have the added expense of travel, hotel stays for their employees, etc., but for companies around here, the estimate is likely accurate,” he told the Journal.
For now, the focus will be on the urgent repairs to the roof to prevent the House from deteriorating further. A course of action for the remaining repairs will be decided on in the near future.
