Richmond Hill’s new Oak Ridges Library to be completed by fall 2019

Yorkregion.com
March 20, 2019
Sheila Wang

Richmond Hill announced construction of the New Oak Ridges Library has resumed after being stalled for more than five months due to contractual issues.

The town and Zurich Insurance have reached an agreement in which Buttcon Limited, an Ontario-based construction company, is contracted to take over the last 10 per cent of construction on the new branch, according a press release on Mar. 14.

Buttcon Limited is expected to complete construction by fall 2019.

Following the completion, Richmond Hill Public Library is scheduled to take six weeks to prepare for its official opening to the public.

“It has been a long process, but we are pleased to have a new contractor on board to complete the library construction,” said Italo Brutto, commissioner of environment and infrastructure services. “We remain committed to seeing this project through to completion as soon as possible.”

The $11,863,000 project on the corner of Yonge Street and Regatta Avenue had come into a halt last October when Richmond Hill ended the contract with the previous contractor Bondfield Construction Company Limited due to what is called breaches of contract.

Approved in 2015, the 19,000-square-foot new facility, which was initially scheduled to complete by Nov. 17, 2017, was later postponed to Mar. 28, 2018 due to significant rain delays and other contractual issues, as yorkregion.com reported.

However, Bondfield failed to deliver on the second completion date, and little progress was made afterwards, which eventually led to the termination of the contract.

Bondfield has been dealing with a great number of public-sector projects that have been either significantly behind schedule or terminated since the start of 2018.

In order to move forward with the project, Richmond Hill has called upon Zurich, Bondfield’s bonding company to arrange for completion. It has recommended and selected Buttcon for the remaining work.

The new contract with Buttcon is the most recent development on the much-awaited project which had been stuck in limbo for more than five months.

The town will not be responsible for any additional construction costs to complete the project. However, there may be other project costs which will have to be addressed, said town’s spokesperson Ash O’Malley.

Buttcon is taking over the remaining 10 per cent of work including finishes such as landscaping, flooring, millwork and fixtures.

“We’re looking forward to the new library opening and we know the community is too,” said Mayor Dave Barrow. “The new facility will provide the community with enhanced library services for many years to come.”

Three times bigger than the current branch, the new library is expected to replace the current library which has outgrown its space in the area.

It is also expected to offer a wide range of services including meeting rooms, programs rooms as well as expanded a library collection of books and magazines for all ages.

If the new contractor were able to deliver on time, the library would have taken three years and a half to complete -- two more years than originally planned.