Photo supplied. Retired Peterborough Director of Facilities and Special Projects Mary Gallop will be helping guide the Community Centre project.
The township has hired the services of retired City Director of Facilities and Special Projects Mary Gallop to help guide them through the process of tendering and building the proposed new Community Centre.
She has joined as a member of the Technical Advisory Committee which began its work this month.
Gallop joined the city straight out of university, and has spent the last 32 years building her career. She started in the recreation department, then moved into park development and for the 10 years she assumed the Director position until her retirement last May. In this role she managed the development of many key municipal projects in the city, including the Sport and Wellness Centre. Prior to her departure, she guided City council through the process of determining how they would address the replacement of the aging Northcrest Arena. She supported the decision to build the new twin-pad arena on campus at Trent University. None of the projects under her watch have exceeded their budget and she uses cost consultants prior to committing to a construction contract to provide independent and educated cost estimates used in assessments of construction tenders.
Gallop was introduced to the Cavan Monaghan project by her neighbour, Cavan Monaghan CAO Yvette Hurley, who recognized the expertise Gallop might bring to this significant local project. After seeing how much ground work was completed, Gallop agreed to participate. She was impressed with the level of detail reflected in the needs assessment, the level of engagement of many community groups and the ideal location of the project. She explained that because staff has prepared a solid foundation, the next steps should proceed smoothly.
Her influence is already evident in the development process. Gallop has recommended the township avoid combining the project into design/build combination, saying this format makes projects more complicated. She supports the township’s inclination towards single sourcing the architect firm, particularly when they see a project that they would like to emulate. Once the design is complete, the final plans will be assessed by independent cost consultants who provide a range of costs by which to evaluate submitted construction bids. Construction firms submit to a pre-qualification process eliminates contractors without adequate experience, as arena builds are complex projects requiring significant technical expertise.
Given these conditions, she expects the project to roll out in the next few months with a 10 month window for the design completion followed by a 2 month tendering process and a 15 month construction schedule. The objective is to have doors open at the new facility by the fall of 2019.
At this time the township is seeking more community involvement and to help move the project forward. If you are interested in joining the Community Stakeholder Committee to provide input on the development of the facility, please complete and submit this application. KG
