Great news, the tender responses were opened and the low bid fits the available budget!  The city will go through a short due diligence process before officially awarding the contract and issuing the Purchase Order to start construction.

The low bidder of the 12 who submitted, at $1,388,000, was West Carleton company Argue Construction. This works out to $261/ft²  which is a very reasonable price for the type of construction and safety features in our building. The Argue family are long-time residents and contributors to West Carleton.  Shawn, President of Argue Construction,  has been very supportive of the project and is great to work with. Construction is a 99% go for next month.

 Congratulations and thank you to everyone who has contributed to bringing us to this point.

The Project Sandhills vision is of course more than a building, it’s an opportunity to address a wide range of community  needs.  Now that Phase 1 is all but assured teams are ramping up to turn our opportunities into reality; Programs, Clubs,  Fitness Centre, Health, Renovations, Services, and Emergency Preparedness.

Earlier this month we launched our fall Program & Club Sampler series; one- session intros to activities for people of all ages. Its our first step toward knowing what interests you so we have it available when the new building opens. We also opened Fitness Centre pre-registration. It includes a short survey on the equipment, times, and services you want so we can determine what to establish and how many memberships to make available. There is no money down yet – just a chance to get at the front of the line. 

Renovations planning is also well underway with the goal of completing a series of bite size upgrades to the existing centre, as funds become available, while the new building is going up, and completing the new Kitchen and Club & Arts Room as soon as it opens.

We continue to benefit from City donation matching and tax receipts and are grateful to Kirk Mandy for backing our double-double campaign again: you donate in October, Kirk matches it, and then the City doubles it.  If you give $25, Sandhills gets $100.

It is not too late to join the team, provide feedback, or donate.