CARSTAIRS - Construction on the new Carstairs fire hall is ahead of schedule and on budget, with a grand opening now possible in March, says Carl McDonnell, the town's chief administrative officer.
Mountain View County and the Town of Carstairs are jointly funding the construction of the new $4 million building which is under construction just east of Highway 2A in the town.
Eagle Builders LP was awarded the contract based on a tender of $4,088,627.
An agreement sets the county’s ownership interest in the new hall at 47 per cent and the Town of Carstairs at 53 per cent.
In an interview last week, McDonnell said the project is moving along nicely.
“They are about three weeks ahead of schedule,” said McDonnell. “Everything is going really well and it’s on budget. There have been no problems or issues or hold-ups.”
There has so far been only one small addition to the project, he said.
“There has only be one change order on it so far,” he said. “That was a sink install in one of the mechanical rooms.”
One possible hold-up with the project could involve the weather over the next little while, he said.
“A challenge, because they are ahead of schedule, could be paving,” he said. “It will depend on what the weather is like in March.”
When it happens, the move to the new fire hall will see the fire department personnel and equipment remain on duty without interruption, he said.
“They will remain in service the whole time,” he said. “What we will be doing is moving the office equipment, table and chairs and so on, over to the new hall. Our operational staff will be assisting with that. The trucks will be moved over when we are ready.”
The existing hall will be repurposed for other municipal uses, he said.
“There is some work that we want to do at the current hall when the trucks are out of the way,” he said. “We will be painting the bay area and some other work there.”
Alberta Health Services will continue to be based in the current fire hall, he said.
“Their ambulance will be staying there,” he said.
Asked if the new hall needs to receive government approval or certification before being used, he said, “No, just the usual commissioning of the hall with the testing of the systems and that type of thing. That should be pretty straight forward.”
A grand opening of the new hall was tentatively scheduled to take place on April 30, but may now be able to be held earlier, he said.
“We haven’t set a date yet but we are probably looking at a March or early April time frame,” he said.
