The Port Theater in Nanaimo is upgrading its heating and cooling system. (Archive photo of the press release)
The cost of the new heating and cooling system for the Nanaimo Port Theater has risen again, and the budget for the project has now exceeded $1 million.
At its December 15 meeting, the City of Nanaimo’s Finance and Audit Committee recommended spending $255,000 from the reserve to replace the theater’s natural gas cooling system with a new electric heat pump system.
A budget of US$211,000 was allocated for the cooler replacement project in 2020, but in March 2021, the City Council approved an increase of US$500,000 to upgrade the system to a heat pump to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which is expected to save US$19,000 in energy costs each year.
However, when the city tendered the project this fall, it received only one bid at a price of US$910,000, and unexpected events pushed the budget to more than US$1 million.
A staff report this week stated: “The impact of market conditions, supply chain delays, inflation and pandemics is obvious. When building a construction budget, perceptions of possible construction costs become less reliable.”
The project’s current budget is US$1,042,000, an increase of US$330,000 and is funded by a US$75,000 Clean British Columbia Grant and US$255,000 from the City’s Climate Action Reserve.