The cracked pool at the Minoru Centre for Active Living has been rebuilt.
This was brought up at council on Monday by Coun. Linda McPhail who asked for confirmation from city staff about the state of repairs.
The aquatic centre at the new facility in Minoru Park has never been opened as the crack was found just weeks before its scheduled opening of March 2019.
Initially, the city said the insurance company of the builder, Stuart Olson, would pay for the repairs, estimated at up to $3 million.
The entire Minoru Centre for Active Living construction project was almost two years behind schedule and has been the centre of multiple lawsuits.
Stuart Olson, the construction management company, is suing the City of Richmond for $7 million saying the city was responsible for the construction delays.
The city responded by saying Stuart Olson was paid $6 million to manage the project and the city relied on the company’s advice in making decisions about the project.
Stuart Olson is also being sued by several subcontractors, but the construction management company has turned around and named the city as a third party in the suits.
While the delays were blamed on the crack in Lap Pool 1, in fact, there was also a failure of Lap Pool 2 during construction, which caused leaks into the crawl space below, according to the city’s statement of defence in the lawsuit.
The cost of building the centre was $84 million. It also includes the new seniors centre, which opened in March 2019, and a fitness centre, which opened in January.
None of these claims have been proven in court.
