Creston Emergency Services Building

Sounds like a great idea although we have not considered it. We will keep it in mind for the future. Here is a list of the community events we do participate in throughout the year:

• Blossom Festival
• July 1 Fireworks
• Hot Summer Nights
• Back to school week – fire truck parked near the schools, morning and afternoon, to remind drivers to slow down
• Fire Prevention Week – Presentation on fire safety to grade 3 classrooms
• Fire hall and fire truck tours
• Halloween Safety Night
• Christmas Caroling

Thank you for your question. At the September 21, 2021 Council Meeting, the construction estimates were tracking nearly $1 million over the $7 million construction budget (click here for September 21, 2021 meeting presentation to Council). While there were some anticipation of construction savings, ultimately with the additional construction delays the final construction budget remained at approximately $8 million. At a recent Council Meeting, Staff provided a total review of the project costs dating back to 2017 that includes legal, building professionals, land purchase, construction, etc. Please see the staff report (click here) provided to Council at July 26, 2022 Council Meeting.

Thank you for question.  No, Council has not approved an increase to the construction budget of the Creston Emergency Services Building.  At the September 21, 2021 Committee of the Whole Meeting, staff and consultants provided a budget update.  As of September 15, 2021, the estimated completion is nearly $1 million higher than anticipated.

Bruce McFarlane, a member of the Technical Building Advisory Committee and former project manager, outlined to Council that there is still work to be done in the value engineering process.  This is not the same as "cutting" things from the construction budget, but more a process to determine if there are less expensive alternatives to achieve the same functionality.  The advantage of the Construction Management process includes the ability for the Town to continue value engineering through construction and further negotiate with contractors to gain the best price.  Even with about 98% of the project tendered, this process is on-going and additional savings will be realized.

This does not mean, nor is it intended to imply, that this project will not be over the $7 million construction budget, as the purpose of the budget update presentation was to advise Council of the worst case scenario risk.  Council deferred the decision making until the 2022 budget process when a more accurate cost will be available and the majority of value engineering has been realized.  Since March 2021, the project team has reduced the cost of the project by more than $500,000 through value engineering.

As part of the presentation, Staff provided an overview to Council of how the increased costs could be managed without increasing taxation or impacting any current or future planned capital project.

Thank you for the question.  The short answer is "yes" the building will be energy efficient and "no" the building will not be outdated before it is finished.

The BC Building Code requires minimum requirements for energy efficiency.  Mechanical engineers and the building design team develop a "best practices" design based on the building type to meet or exceed energy efficiencies required by the BC Building Code.  This includes insulation values of exterior walls and roof, windows and the types of heating and cooling systems.  

The project could not consider inclusion of advanced heating and cooling systems, such as geothermal heat, that would qualify the project for the FCM Green Energy grant, as the cost of these systems far outweigh the grant dollars in return.  For example, in January 2021, designing for an energy efficient system that would qualify for a the grant would of added an estimated $2 million to the project with a grant opportunity of approximately $750,000. The FCM energy grant has a criteria of achieving "net-zero" energy to qualify.

The Town will have an opportunity in the future to apply for retro-fit grants to move the building to a net zero building.  There have been grants that include addition of solar panels, geo-thermal and other energy efficiency systems that come available.  The Town will pursue these grants for this building, as well as other municipal buildings, to achieve "net zero" by 2050.