Brampton needs to add $2.6M to fund construction of new fire station

Increased costs of construction materials has boosted the price of moving Brampton Fire Station 201 a few hundred metres south on Rutherford Rd.

Brampton city council is expected to approve a $2.6M increase in the budget to build the station at 27 Rutherford Rd. S., at Clark Blvd.

The station is currently located at 8 Rutherford Rd. S. in a building not originally designed as a fire station and deficient in several ways from current standards.

It is obsolete and located too close to the Queen St./Rutherford Rd. intersection, with traffic negatively impacting service levels.

The council-approved budget for the design and construction of the facility is $8.8M, which includes the costs of construction and all other project costs including but not limited to consulting services, furniture, permits and staff recoveries.

The estimated construction cost, however, has ballooned from $6.6M to $8.8M.

Similar to the trend seen in the market on similar projects, the latest construction estimate is higher than the approved hard construction cost budget.

The staff report said the budget amendment request proactively considers the current market conditions, latest building construction price indexes released by Statistics Canada, and bids received for a similar projects up to July 2021.

This increase in costs can be attributed to:

• Material and labor shortages due to market pressures as a result of a large volume of projects previously differed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic proceeding and infrastructure stimulus spending by all levels of government.
• Increased risks to availability of materials and supply chain disruptions. The cost of these risks are reflected in higher general contractor bids.
• The cost of compliance with COVID-19 related regulations including reduced productivity due to the implementation of COVID-19 prevention measures on construction sites and direct costs including the cost of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) needed for COVID-19 prevention.
• The construction market continues to be busy with current work, therefore, the overhead levels and profit margins are increased in response to the increased demand in the public sector.

The request is expected to be granted at Wednesday’s city council meeting.