The following is being distributed at the request of the Civic Centre Construction Board and the Civic Centre Corporation:

Chair of Civic Centre Construction Board delivers project update

Peter Kennedy, Chair of the Civic Centre Construction Board, delivered a project update today. The Construction Board is comprised of representatives of the city, the province, and the Avalon Convention and Visitors Bureau, who are the main funding partners in the St. John�s Civic Centre project. The Construction Board is responsible for all matters related to the construction of the new facilities.

"From a construction management perspective, this project is proceeding well," Kennedy said this morning during a tour of the project. Tenders closed last week for all remaining work on the spectator facility. "A recommendation has been made by the Construction Board to the City of St. John�s to award this contract to Olympic Construction Limited. This company submitted the lowest tender price for this work package, which is valued at approximately $17,500,000." There is still one significant tender package to award, that for the remaining work on the Convention Centre and it is expected to be awarded within a few weeks. The construction budget for this project has been fixed at $36 million. "We expect to complete the construction of the Civic Centre within the available budget. With the results of our latest tender for the spectator facility, we now have a reasonable degree of certainty that the budget will not be exceeded."

The project received the go ahead in late 1998, and the first construction tenders were called in June of 1999. Since the project started there has been a significant increase in construction prices from the estimates originally developed by the Construction Board early in 1999. This situation has resulted in the need to carry out a number of design reviews as the detailed planning process was finalized. The purpose of these reviews was to deal with budget pressures, and fine tune the construction details to allow the project to remain on budget, in spite of a trend toward higher prices. This process has caused a revision in the estimated completion date of the project from January 31, 2001, as originally planned. A completion date around the end of March, or early in April of 2001 is now targeted.

"Throughout the planning and construction process, the Construction Board has placed a significant emphasis on consultations with various user groups of the new facilities," Kennedy continued. "We are confident that we will deliver a highly functional facility that will fully meet the needs of the various users, as well as the community in general."

Media contact: David Wells, Communications, (709) 729-6830.

2000 04 03                       1:30 p.m.