Now several months behind schedule, the city is not expecting to move staff into the new operations building until late March, says city engineer Wayne Tuck.

As the result of many change orders in the project, Tuck said, the work is just taking longer than expected.

The city had been hoping the building would be ready in September or October 2019, but with the change orders come delays, Tuck explained in a recent interview before taking the Star on a tour of the building.

He emphasized while the construction portion of the overall budget has increased to $43.6 million from Ketza Construction’s original bid of $39.3 million, the project is still coming in under the overall budget of $52.4 million.

Last summer, city council briefly discussed the possibility of going after the design consultant that’s managing the project because of the cost overruns.

At that point, there were more than 200 change orders.

It was suggested by staff, however, that going after the company might cost more than it’s worth.

Council did not pursue the matter.

Tuck said it’s looking like the building will be completed next month, though the city will still need some time to go over things before staff start moving in.

The building is 115,000 square feet, with eight massive double-door bays so that vehicles can drive in one door and out the other.

They’re 80 metres long, or long enough to handle five city transit buses parked end-to-end, with room to spare.

One of the bays is dedicated for mechanical and repair work. The tool boxes are already in place, and there’s a 10-tonne overhead crane in case mechanics have to pull an engine or move around something heavy.

There’s a change area with individual lockers and showers, along with a large room where staff can hang their wet clothing.

The labyrinth of office space is adorned with full-length windows that stretch from the ceiling to the floor.

On the roof is an array of photovoltaic solar panels that will provide all the electricity the building needs during the peak sunshine months of the summer.

It’s expected there’ll even be a little extra to sell back to the grid. It will be a different story in the winter months when the panels are not expected to produce much at all – not enough to justify keeping them clear of snow.

Across the parking lot from the operations building is a building with three wash bays – one for transit buses, one for other large city vehicles and one for small vehicles.

Tuck said they’ve not finalized the order in which the different departments will move in.

In the end, however, the building will house the water and waste crew, building operations, transportation, the sign shop, human resources, engineering and the transit department.

But not everybody from the aging Municipal Services Building (MSB) on Fourth Avenue is moving in, he pointed out.

He said departments like the IT department, building inspections, lands and planning won’t be leaving the MSB until the new addition to city hall is ready.

The request for proposals to design and manage construction of the addition was issued Dec. 16 with a closing date of Jan. 24 though they may be extending the deadline by a week, he said.

Tuck said the design work will take about a year. It’s expected the project proposal will be ready for council’s review in April 2021, with construction to begin that spring, he said.

The addition and the retrofit of city hall is budgeted at $20.8 million. The project requires the demolition of the fire hall next door.

Firefighters are scheduled to move into their new $4-million hall across from the Kwanlin Dün Culture Centre in late March.