Work slowly but surely continues on the CUplex, with "slowly" emerging the right word when it comes to the theatre component.
There has been another delay in efforts to complete the theatre, as the date for its substantial completion has been pushed back again to April 30.
Parks and Recreation Director Keith Anderson delivered that news to city council Monday as part of his monthly update on progress at the construction site for the CUPlex.
This is the second delay to hit the project in less than a month. Substantial completion had previously been slated for December, but manpower issues had pushed back the completion date to March. Now, the completion date has been pushed back by another month.
Anderson told council the latest setback is largely due to an "issue with a sub-trade that had some financial issues." He did not go into further detail.
The Parks and Recreation director added another electrical sub-trade has come on board recently, so "hopefully they can gain some ground now."
Otherwise, the project continues to be on budget, with the value of work completed to date at $11.56 million. Electrical work, installing fixtures, commissioning the boiler system and beginning installation of millwork are the focus of current construction efforts.
Substantial completion for the aquatic centre is now estimated to be March 27 with a likely opening before the end of May, said Anderson.
Completion of the curling rink is slated for June 15 while field house completion is estimated to be September.
The pre-engineering has been completed for the roof of the field house and the look-ahead calls for installation of the running track, the wall insulation and exterior cladding, sprinkler lines above the running track and steel infrastructure.
For the curling rink, the outlook calls for installation of gas lines to the roof top units, electrical rough-ins, insulation of roof drain piping, steel infrastructure and horizontal cladding.
Tours of the construction have also been ongoing with those taking place every two weeks. They are described as "donor tours" for contributors to the project, though others have come along from time to time including members of the media.
The reaction to the tours has been positive, council was told. Anderson said those attending the tours recently have been "blown away" by what they are going to get with the new facilities.
He described the performing arts centre as a "big-city theatre on a smaller scale" and said people are also impressed by the aquatic centre's features.
