A recent window restoration project at Melville's City Hall is grabbing some national attention as "Windows of Opportunity".
Municipal World, the oldest continuously published monthly municipal magazine in the world and self-proclaimed as 'Canada's Municipal Magazine', recently praised Melville council's decision to repair the windows at city hall rather than replace them. The window repairs to 14 large and 12 smaller windows were completed on the upper floors - upgrades to windows and other pieces on the lower floors are expected to be discussed prior to 2013 - of City Hall last year, only coming in at a price of $137,000.
At the time, council decided to repair and weatherize the original wood windows at the hall instead of purchasing PVC windows.
"The repairs were part of a continuous upgrade of the building," city manager Michael Hotsko says, noting inevitable deteriorations on the building nearing its 100th birthday made the repairs a necessity. "It's a heritage building in the City of Melville and it's still utilized to this day.
"For council it is important to keep this building in good condition for the city's use and it's important to keep this building for years to come for its heritage."
The process preserved 85 per cent of the original windows, maintaining the building's heritage designation, and actually saving the city money in the long-run as the repaired windows are expected to have a longer life expectancy, according to article writer Murray Miller.
"The work undertaken to repair the historic windows not only retained significant heritage values, but it prevented 816 kg of sound material from being disposed; employed five local tradespeople for four months; improved the energy efficiency of the windows by 30 per cent; efficiently reused embodied energy within the existing materials; and greened the Melville City Hall by recycling a product that has a much longer life expectancy than PVC windows, all within the same monetary cost as installing PVC," the author lays out in his article.
Miller adds, other Saskatchewan heritage buildings have decided to replace windows instead of repairing them, and the results were not as positive. In one case the windows were brought in from out of province and were sensitive to high/low temperatures experienced in Saskatchewan. The windows were also high energy consumers, amongst other things.
The same example saw up to 100 per cent of the 200 windows being replaced and disposed of. In Melville's situation, the author contests, results were much more positive all-around.
For city resident and City Hall enthusiast Cary Piller - whom Hotsko says was instrumental in helping council decide to repair rather than replace the windows - the process helps ensure the upkeep and integrity of one of the city's first buildings, something extremely important for both future and past generations.
"Melville's City Hall is one of the few century-old buildings that has not been 'museumized' but is used for its original purpose - governance and a social gathering place," Piller proudly offers.
"Council's foresight in its decision should be commended. Hopefully, we will follow the same principles in rehabilitating the main floor windows and doors in 2012."
Melville's City Hall was built in 1912-13 and is one of the oldest remaining buildings in Saskatchewan. At that time, it was constructed by the Melville Construction Company at a cost of $75,000. Besides being one of the oldest remaining buildings in the province, City Hall also has one of the oldest council chambers still used in Canada.
Since day one, this multi-purpose building has contained municipal offices while its second floor accommodated cultural performances and activity.
