Entire roof at SHNB to be replaced following water leaks from product failure

Health Minister Jim Reiter admitted the ordeal is unfortunate but pointed to the public-private partnership undertook to build the facility as a saving grace.

“I think it is important that people recognize that because of the nature of the contract, tax dollars won’t be paying for this,” he told media. “It is a huge project that has been needed in the province for decades and it was very exciting to have it done, but again, I don’t want us to lose sight that it is up and running. This is a bit of a setback.”

Access Prairies Partnership (APP), the organization responsible for the construction and maintenance of the hospital, will foot the bill. APP consists of Graham Design Builders, Carillion Canada, Gracorp Capital Advisors, Carillion Private Finance, Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning and WSP Canada.

It is not yet known how long the work will take or when it will begin as the government said APP is still developing a replacement plan.

It is anticipated work will be done incrementally and should have little to no impact on patients, though that will be ironed out in the coming weeks, Reiter said. Should patients be forced to move, it is expected they will be ferried to other space within the SHNB.

SaskBuilds CEO Kyle Toffan said the failure was, by all accounts, “an unforeseeable issue” that could not have been identified during construction.

“It was an innovative solution, a new solution, to stay on time and on budget and frankly, it failed,” he said. “It was a new product and they are realizing now they took on a significant risk using that product.”

He said the risk of what products are used falls on the back of the contracter, which is why they have to pay for it.

There were never any structural or safety issues associated with the failure, Toffan said, adding the replacement is a long-term maintenance solution.

“[The contractors] are being proactive on this and making sure they get it right because they are responsible for this … for 30 years,” he noted. “There is a vested interest on their part to get this right.”

Last spring, when a two-to-three-month delay hung over the facility, SaskBuilds said a monthly $1.25 million fine would come against APP. Toffan said it is not yet known what, if any penalties could be handed to APP, but any costs to government coffers from a disruption will be backfilled by the vendor.

Reiter pointed to the various costs protections as a self solidification for P3s when asked if the problem had shook his confidence in the endeavours.

“If this was a traditional build, from the government’s standpoint, this would be a huge problem because you would likely be some kind of legal argument over who is responsible for what costs,” he said. “This is one of the projects where it made sense and it is proving right now it is protecting the taxpayer.”

But NDP leader Ryan Meili believes the government errored in opting for a P3, saying he was shocked to hear that a building that opened mere months ago already needs such major repairs.

“When you say, ‘hey, it is fine this thing is falling apart when it is only months old because somebody else is going to fix it,’ that is pretty poor management,” he said. “Why are they saying it is a good thing for things to be built and rebuilt when they should be built right in the first place and built by us.”

He said the P3 model gives the province less control and limits transparency. Meili noted how the facility has gone through two contractors and said the entire project was done in a way that doesn’t make sense for the taxpayer and puts the essential services that the SHNB offers at risk.

If he were in government, Meili said the facility would have been a traditional build and a better procurement process would be in place. Pointing to the Regina bypass and power plant in Swift Current, he said the government is not putting enough emphasis on local contractors and worries too much about the bottom line over the quality of the work.

“We have the expertise here in Saskatchewan. When we are building our own roads, our own hospitals, and our own schools, we should use our own tax dollars and our own expertise,” he said.

The 284-bed facility replaced a century-old psychiatric care facility and two correctional centres when it opened in November 2018.

The $407 million price tag made the it the largest investment in mental health treatment in the province’s history.

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tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr

by Tyler Marr

Entire roof at SHNB to be replaced following water leaks from product failure

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