Facilities in Whistler valued at more than $300 million
As the board of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (OCOG) comes closer to filling the CEO position, some work is already underway to address Olympic marketing issues and lay the groundwork for Olympic venues.
Earlier this week the OCOG issued a request for qualifications from engineering and design firms interested in bidding on the design of the Callaghan Nordic Centre and the sliding centre at Blackcomb.
"At this stage, we are seeking to identify and prequalify teams of design professionals to transform our great vision for these facilities into a tangible, workable design," the RFQ ad states in part.
Although it’s unlikely that any construction will get underway this summer on Olympic venues, the bidding process for Olympic construction contracts is expected to get underway in the next few months in order to break ground by spring of 2005. Whistler’s construction companies have indicated that they want to be part of that process.
Whistler alone is slated for $313 million in new facilities, not including any residential development that may be part of the land grant tied to the Games.
The list of facilities include:
• The $102 million Callaghan Valley Nordic Centre, which will host cross-country, biathlon, Nordic combined and ski jumping events, with a spectator capacity of 12,000 in two outdoor stadiums. Construction is expected to begin in April of 2005 for completion by June of 2007.
• The Whistler Olympic/Paralympic Village, at a location yet to be decided, is budgeted at $83 million, accommodating 2,000 athletes and coaches in 554 dwelling units.
• Some $23 million in upgrades are planned for Whistler-Blackcomb for alpine skiing venues. The mountains will start to modify the runs in June of 2005 for completion by November of 2007. Temporary viewing areas will also be required for about 15,000 spectators on each mountain.
• The Whistler Sliding Centre, home to the luge, bobsled and skeleton events, will cost an estimated $55 million. Construction is supposed to start this summer to be ready for the fall of 2007 to allow two seasons of training.
• A new $40 million Multiplex arena has been proposed for Whistler to host the Ice Sledge Hockey. The arena would seat between 3,000 and 5,000 spectators.
Although none of the bidding has opened as of yet, local contractors are watching and waiting for their chance to be part of the Games.
Jim Charters, the president of Whistler Construction Co., believes that local companies are in a good position for the Olympics.
"Do we have an advantage? I think so. Our employees are local and they’ve been working with us for some years. Our infrastructure is all set up and it should help us quite a bit," said Charters.
"There is indeed a shortage of workers in the construction industry. It hasn’t affected us yet, but depending on the amount of work that comes, it could."
For that reason, Charters hopes that the contracts are given out as early as possible – the longer they wait, the more likely that OCOG will have to turn to large companies to get their facilities built on time.
"I just hope they don’t leave everything to the last minute and have to make fast decisions, and just end up having the big companies do everything and not spin anything off to the local community – that would be a real shame if it goes that way.
"We’re dying to help. We’ve been waiting for this Olympic thing for a long time, since the first one they went for in 1968."
Charters says his company has been in Whistler since 1967, and believes their experience with provincial and municipal contracts will be an asset when the bids are decided. The company built the Whistler Health Care Centre, and most recently the Spring Creek Firehall.
Because the Firehall was built using new green techniques that are up to the American LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards Charters also believes the company has an advantage – Olympic venues are to be built following sustainable principles.
"That experience could be quite an advantage. There’s a lot to (green building construction) but once you’ve gone through it, it’s not as complicated as people think. It’s a bit more work, but it should help us out."
Ole Mau, the development manager and estimator for Coastal Mountain Excavations, said the company intends to bid on Olympic contracts once the process opens.
"We have an advantage in the sense that out-of-towners would have to pay a living-out allowance, which… is very expensive up here for housing," said Mau.
Mau doesn’t believe that decisions will be made based on where a company is located, but on the lowest price, and says that local companies have to be competitive. He says that CME can compete, and is expecting to come out ahead on different projects.
"We are anticipating the work, yeah," said Mau. "We have the capacity."
Tim Regan, the president of the Sea to Sky chapter of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association and the owner of Vision Pacific contracting, said he would be surprised if the majority of work wasn’t contracted out to the companies in the community.
"What our view on the world is that whenever work comes along that we have the core competencies to do and we’re competitive to do, we should be first in line to get that work," said Regan.
"The reason is that we’re living here and contributing to the community. If we make a dollar here, and spend that dollar here, the whole health of the community improves."
According to Regan, the construction industry is the second biggest employer in town, next to Whistler-Blackcomb, and the reason why Whistler has a vibrant middle class.
The quality of work is also an issue, he says, and locals have a lot of incentive to make sure that the venues are as well-built as possible.
"I think in Montreal in 1976 in building that dome, they were off by eight inches somewhere and the whole structural integrity was questioned because they did some very poor construction – I don’t think anybody is looking to repeat those days," said Regan.
"If we’re building an Olympic village, that’s going to become employee housing later on so we want to build the best, the most sensible, the most adaptable products that we can so we don’t have a lot of long-term maintenance issues. I think everyone is committed to doing that.
"We have a resource base here that it would be very difficult for someone coming in (from outside the corridor) to access the kind of collective talents that we would be able to access," said Regan.
On the larger projects, local companies would be willing to work together, said Regan, "as we already do now."
The IOC is sending a four-person delegation to Whistler and Vancouver at the end of March. The organizing committee CEO is expected to be announced before that visit.
