The Regional District of Nanaimo is deciding whether to approve a $100,000 contract extension with BRC Consulting for consultation work on the Greater Nanaimo Pollution Control Centre project.
As part of the regional district’s Liquid Waste Management Plan, the centre must be upgraded to improve solids removal from wastewater by the end of 2018. The project will include improvements to odour mitigation systems and to primary treatment.
If approved at the regular meeting Tuesday (July 28), the extension will run until May.
BRC Consulting was selected as subject matter expert last September and according to Sean De Pol, regional district manager of wastewater services, the firm is overseeing preliminary design work from project engineer AECOM and coming up with solutions to design issues that could potentially affect construction and operation of the facility.
The project is complex and if there isn’t an appropriate level of pre-planning, the scope could increase after the project goes to tender, which could affect costs, he said.
“There are thousands of different elements to a project like this and you only get one opportunity to do it and if we can pre-plan and anticipate every single, possible aspect of the project, when it comes to construction, that’s where you’re going to be guaranteed success. So that’s what were going through right now with BRC Consulting,” said De Pol.
De Pol is projecting a construction tender going out in May, lasting for upwards of six weeks, with the successful proponent expected to be named next July and construction following after.
The regional district anticipates it will have spent $145,000 on BRC Consulting by months end.
About $100,000 was spent to start the process, plus a $45,000 extension to assist with project management, quality assurance and preliminary design review, technical reports and tender document development.
