The decision to postpone construction on a new Campbell River library for a year is unlikely to result in a hoped-for lower price tag, the president of the Vancouver Island Construction Association has warned.
“My view is you’re probably not going to build any cheaper than you are today,” Rory Kumala said.
The Vancouver Island Regional Library has decided to put its planned $14-million library in Campbell River, at 1240 Shoppers Row, on pause because of “skyrocketing construction and labour costs.”
Financing would have come from a Municipal Finance Authority loan.
The budget included construction costs of $9 million for a 20,000-square-foot library.
The remainder of the cost would have paid for furnishings, information technology, infrastructure, consulting, shelving and more.
A new library would be more than double the size of the existing 9,683-square-foot library.
The existing library is nearing the end of its life and is not large or modern enough to serve the diverse needs in the growing community, said David Carson, director of corporate communications and strategic initiatives for the regional library. Campbell River has a population of nearly 36,000.
Carson said the existing branch has poor sight lines. It is not configured to offer the range of services and flexible spaces that a modern library would have, including access to the latest technologies and traditional library services.
The City of Campbell River was willing to provide a no-cost lease to the library, demolish the existing facility (at the same location), service the site with sewage, water and drainage, and provide municipal broadband service. However, estimates in spring showed that construction costs alone had climbed to more than $16 million.
A second cost estimate was carried out in May featuring a revised design and scaled-back features. Even with those changes, construction costs were up to $5 million higher than the original $9 million.
Staff will now examine options to allow the planned library to go ahead in the future.
But Kumala, who expects costs will continue to rise, said: “We are not forecasting to get over our labour woes anytime soon.”
The current labour shortage includes the construction sector where skilled trades workers are in demand.
Supply chains — for everything from microchips to bananas — are strained, said Kumala. “And it’s not showing signs that it is going to improve any time soon,” he said.
Kumala said he had heard of one local government tendering a project, anticipating it would cost $1 million, but instead received bids at $3 million.
Changes to the library’s scope or schedule might help the bottom line, he said.
If a public project gets built, at least it is serving the public and the value of its payback has started, he said.
The regional library board passed a 2022 budget of $31.28 million. It put a hiatus on new capital projects for a year.
Port McNeill Mayor Gaby Wickstrom, chair of the library’s board of trustees, said it was a difficult decision to postpone the Campbell River project. “But we could not, being fiscally responsible, move forward with this project under the current construction and labour markets,” she said.
The board is committed to finding a way to build the new branch, Wickstrom said. Consultations will be carried out with community representatives.
For now, Campbell River library will remain in its location on a month-to-month lease.
Campbell River Coun. Colleen Evans, a library trustee, said: “A new library as a cornerstone of Campbell River’s downtown core and cultural district remains a priority for us. The difficult reality is it simply is not the right time to move forward with a project of this size and scope.”
The regional library system has 39 branches.
It covers areas that include the northern part of Vancouver Island, Sooke and Sidney, Haida Gwaii and the Central Coast.
