Commentary
The Saanich municipality in B.C. desperately needs a new fire hall. In 2019, city council approved a $26-million replacement for its aging Fire Station #2, set to open in 2023. But because the city requires that all public buildings reach a “LEED” Gold or Platinum standard of environmental efficiency, the station was to be built using trendy mass timber construction. (LEED stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.”) Five years later, ground had yet to be broken and the project was plagued by rapidly rising costs.
Switching to conventional concrete and steel construction offered a chance to keep the project close to its budget and timeline, a 2023 staff report revealed. But abandoning the wooden design meant “the project has the potential to not achieve LEED Platinum or even Gold.” Faced with the loss of their coveted LEED designation, Saanich city council decided to up the budget by more than 70 percent, to $44.6 million. It may be the most expensive fire hall ever constructed in Canada. And it’s still not open, running more than three years behind schedule….