Allyson Beauregard
Allyson Beauregard
MUNICIPALITY OF PONTIAC – After a long wait, residents of the Municipality of Pontiac will soon have a new community centre to replace the deteriorating Quyon Lions Club, also know as the “Beach Barn”. During a special meeting on August 29, municipal council granted a $1.5 million contract for the demolition and reconstruction of the Quyon Community Centre to LCC & Associés Canada Inc. The demolition will begin soon and is expected to take about two weeks. According to Dominic Labrie, municipal Communications Officer, the re-construction should be complete by the end of January.
The project experienced a slight delay given that council decided to hire one contractor for both the demolition and re-construction rather than dividing the contract; the tenders were originally planned to be issued in March. However, hiring one contractor for both jobs resulted in a lower than expected price for the demolition.
“We chose to go head with one tender (demo + construction) instead of two in order to get a better price for the project. It caused some delays because we had to wait for the architect and engineer’s drawings and plans. We could not start demolition before the blue print for the construction was ready,” explained Labrie, noting the spring flooding did not hinder the project’s development in any way.
The 7,000 square foot building was designed by Architect Pierre J. Tabet, who was awarded the $170,000 project manager contract during a council meeting on December 13, 2016. Tabet is also in charge of issuing the tenders and supervising the demolition and reconstruction process. When finished, the new building is expected to accommodate about 200 people.
The $1.7 million total cost of the project (includes $177,000 for the engineer, architect and project management as well as extra for landscaping, furniture, etc.) will be covered by a $1.5 million borrowing bylaw and a contribution from the Quyon Waterfront Revitalization Committee, which has raised $113,000 to date.
