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Council awards tender for Olympic Plaza pavilion

And the Whistler Olympic Plaza pavilion tender is awarded to - drum roll please! - Peak Ventures! Council awarded the $1,913,200 tender to the Whistler-based company Tuesday night.

And the Whistler Olympic Plaza pavilion tender is awarded to -  drum roll please! - Peak Ventures!

Council awarded the $1,913,200 tender to the Whistler-based company Tuesday night.

There is no set deadline for when the facility will be completed, though Jan Jansen, the RMOW's general manger of resort planning, said the municipality has "said all along" that there would be a summer opening date to match peak visitation.

"We have yet to nail down the specific date, and I think that will become more clear as we work with the contractor to refine the schedule and see what elements can be accelerated to have this completed as soon as possible."

He noted that the plaza will be ready for public use as soon as the snow melts and the "grass greens up."

"I feel that this is a project that needs to be advanced as quickly as possible," said Councillor Tom Thomson. "The community is waiting for it. We all know the story of the two lots out there (lots 1-9) and hopefully this will... make the nay-sayers go away, that is we will have a real jewel."

The contract is a fixed price given in a lump sum to the contractor. Jansen said any requests for additional costs to construction will be looked at.

"At this point, I can't foresee what that situation might be," he said.

Responding to Councillor Eckhard Zeidler's concerns about increased costs to the facility, Jansen said that changes to the design plans could potentially lower costs rather than raise them.

"What we have right now is a construction contingency that would be applied to any changes that would be incurred that would be at the expense of the municipality," Jansen said, adding that the contingency is within the RMOW's project budget, not the contract itself.

He noted that this contract is no different than the previous two contracts awarded for this land, including the steel tender and the foundations for the buildings.

The pavilion will include a green roof, and Thomson questioned whether this was a matter of practicality or aesthetics.

"It would look better, in terms of aesthetics," Jansen said, "but it also manages the run-off better. It does absorb the water and releases it at a slower rate into the discharge system that carries it downstream, so that is a benefit. There is also an acoustical quality, in terms of having a heavy downpour on a roof while a performance is going on underneath."

Peak Ventures has completed a number of commercial and upscale residential projects around town, including Summit Ski and Snowboard in the village, the Can-Ski Intrawest Store in Creekside and the recently renovated Le Chamois hotel.