Three days before a 6.4 magnitude earthquake shook a large part of the province on Sept. 9, Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»city hall advertised for a consultant to examine ways to keep the temblor-prone East Wing and West Annex standing.
As both the East Wing and West Annex facilities are being considered for replacement in the next 12 to 15 years, the focus of this work will be on the interim measures that can be taken to improve life safety aspects and not a full seismic upgrade to current codes, said the request for proposals.
The scope of work includes an assessment of the seismic performance of the buildings and development of options to upgrade the facilities to a level that will prevent collapse and enable staff and the public to exit safely from these facilities following a seismic event, said the bid document.
The bid deadline is Sept. 20 and the city wants a report delivered Nov. 8 just 11 days before the Nov. 19 civic election. Recommendations would be too late for the 2011 capital plan, which contemplates spending only $2.25 million for seismic works.
The redevelopment would be a proposition over at least three capital plans based on the amount of money thats involved, said Vision Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Coun. Geoff Meggs. It would be a very significant investment. The original building has now been spruced up quite a bit with stonework, painting and better windows.
Last March, director of facilities design and management Garrick Bradshaw told city council the 1968-opened, four-storey East Wing annex is "rated as high risk of major damage and could experience a partial or full collapse in a 6.0 magnitude earthquake. The main, 1936-opened 12-storey city hall tower is also rated high-risk of suffering major damage, but could fare better because of its mass and construction.
Whichever company wins the bid wont have long to complete a list of tasks including visual inspections, minor destructive testing and a general seismic performance assessment. The city wants preliminary cost estimates for each proposal or option and a statement of how the measures would impact city operations during construction.
The city will consider options that exceed the minimum life safety requirements noted above, but reserves the right to accept or reject these options depending upon cost and impact on operations, said the bid document.
Existing estimates for reinforcing city hall, the East Wing and the West Annex at 515 West 10th Avenue are secret. The citys Freedom of Information office deemed dollar figures contained in a decade-old Iredale Partnership study out-of-scope.
Whatever the costs were, a footnote said they would have included 15 percent for demolition and cleanup of services and finishes, 10 percent contractor markup and a 25 percent contingency.
Iredale was contracted in May 2000, according to the same council report that declared the Central Library as city halls backup site in case of disaster.
