[North Saanich] 443 Maritime Squadron Helicopter Facility at Victoria International Airport | Under construction

[Sparky]

Defence department seeks bids on $104-million contract to build new helicopter centre

A $104-million contract to build a facility to house nine new helicopters at 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron in North Saanich has gone out to public tender........

Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/De...#ixzz1MHBkvma5

[jonny]

Why do they publish their construction budget prior to receival of the bids? Am I crazy or does this completely eliminate the opportunity to receive favourable pricing?

[concorde]

They publish the budget to tell contractors the approximate size of the project to ensure its within their scope and bonding requirements. Only a few select local contractors can bid a $100+ million project and of course will attract the largest national, and perhaps international contractors

The project will still be awarded to the lowest bidder

[VANRIDERFAN]

[guyinthesky]

Originally Posted by Sparky

Defence department seeks bids on $104-million contract to build new helicopter centre

A $104-million contract to build a facility to house nine new helicopters at 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron in North Saanich has gone out to public tender........

Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/De...#ixzz1MHBkvma5

I notice the original closing date was listed as June 12th...this project's closing date has been extended a few times and is now scheduled to close in early August, don't expect construction to start up here for a little bit yet.

[guyinthesky]

This Project Closed for tender last week. It should be moving forward shortly, Knappet Projects was the low bid on it with a number in the tune of just shy over 100 Million with a span of less than 20k difference between 1st and 2nd. The project has not been officially awarded yet, but Construction should start shortly

[jonny]

Please excuse my ignorance, but why does this cost so much? $100M for what is essentially a hanger and maintenance building for nine helicopters seems like an awful lot to me.

For comparison's sake, Save on Foods Memorial Centre cost $30M to build. Rogers Arena was $160M (approx $220M in today's dollars).

[PMCon]

Originally Posted by jonny

Please excuse my ignorance, but why does this cost so much? $100M for what is essentially a hanger and maintenance building for nine helicopters seems like an awful lot to me.

For comparison's sake, Save on Foods Memorial Centre cost $30M to build. Rogers Arena was $160M (approx $220M in today's dollars).

As I have had some involvement here I'd weigh in.

Its not just a hanger to start off with, there are offices, communications, and other such rooms associated with it. Its a large footprint and therefore large structure, its also designed and being built to allow future expansion should it be required. The costs of building a commerical building/residential building versus building a military building also vary quite significantly. The DCC has some very strict and minimal tolerances in the construction of any project they commission which increases your labour, your materials and your general overall costs. The bottom line is, its not just an "average hangar" at an airport.

[Sparky]

From my experience with Defence Construction jonny, the specifications of materials is MUCH higher than regular construction.

An example is "rigid" conduit instead of "EMT" for electrical wiring. Heaven forbid that they would specify BX or armoured cable.

This is your tax dollar at work. Nothing is too good for the taxpayer. Interesting to note that the quantity surveyors that set the budget were very close to the final bids.

I heard that the board room in the construction association office was somewhat tense when the bid results were read out and were so close. John Knappet runs a tight ship and has worked for Defense Construction in the past.......he knows the drill.

[PMCon]

Originally Posted by Sparky

From my experience with Defence Construction jonny, the specifications of materials is MUCH higher than regular construction.

An example is "rigid" conduit instead of "EMT" for electrical wiring. Heaven forbid that they would specify BX or armoured cable.

This is your tax dollar at work. Nothing is too good for the taxpayer. Interesting to note that the quantity surveyors that set the budget were very close to the final bids.

I heard that the board room in the construction association office was somewhat tense when the bid results were read out and were so close. John Knappet runs a tight ship and has worked for Defense Construction in the past.......he knows the drill.

As this information is a matter of public record due to the fact it is a taxpayer funded job. For those of you that are interested the bids are as follows from High to Low

Acciona - $112,900,000
StuartOlsen Dom - $111,970,359.00
CMF Construction - $110,079,065.90
EllisDon/Kinetic - $105,194,115.90
Farmer - $104,970,000.00
PCL - $104,480,000.00
Ledcor $103,987,000.00
Knappet $103,970,000.00

The first couple were certainly close, the spread gets up there on the last three. It was a very tense and competetive bid process. There was a large number of addendums and clarifications issued on the project, with as I think someone else on here mentioned the closing date got pushed back several times, I honestly lost track of how many times it got pushed back. This will certainly create some jobs and give the local trades a good boost.

[cakeman]

Havent been out that way for awhile.. I was led to believe construction had started.. but has anyone seen where they're at with it?

cakes..

[Mike K.]

Yes, construction is underway and located north of the complex where Spitfire Grill/Fedex are located.

[Sparky]

These were taken a month or more ago. It is a very large construction site.

[Mike K.]

April 20th photos of the 443 Maritime Squadron helicopter facility.

[G-Man]

Just flew over that today. Seems like it is going slow...

[jonny]

Those are pretty big piles! Any idea what diameter those are? 3ft at least

[renthefinn]

I would guess based on the lock block sitting next to the pile (last photo) on the ground suspending the I-beams/girders, that the piles are 2ft diameter (610mm). Seeing as a typical lock block is about 750mm in height, and that pile looks like it's less, though it's hard to tell if they are truly side by side, but the lock block behind that pile looks bigger than the pile diameter as well.

I've seen a lot of piles in Victoria that are typically 1ft diameter, 2ft less often, I've seen 3ft and bigger in Vancouver, but they are typically avoided if possible cause they add a lot of complications (cost) to construction.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by renthefinn

I've seen a lot of piles...that are typically 1ft diameter, 2ft less often, I've seen 3ft and bigger, but they are typically avoided if possible cause they add a lot of complications

Yikes! I found some images, but they are a bit ugly and would probably be removed if they were posted.

[G-Man]

^ What was your search term?

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by G-Man

^ What was your search term?

Oops, I thought this was the health thread.

[Sparky]

I stopped by on my way back from the airport today and snapped this cloudy pic.

This facility is HUGE.

[Dylan Leblanc]

Nice, thanks

[Bingo]

443 Helicopter Squadron

“Building the nest” is the slogan of the Team involved in the construction of the 443 (Maritime Helicopter) Squadron Facility at North Saanich. Knappett Projects Inc. is the General Contractor for the Owner Defence Construction Canada. The facility will land and house 7 helicopters and is being built on a suspended concrete slab on 1200 pilings socketed into bedrock. This project will be completed in the year 2014 for a contract value of $104,800,000

http://knappett.com/projects/443-helicopter-squadron/