Tendering problems cause one-year delay in National Holocaust Monument

An update on the other (non-controversial) monument being built in Ottawa:

But the project ground to a halt when bids from pre-qualified firms for the construction contract came in well above budget, said Margi Oksner, executive director of the National Holocaust Monument Development Council, created in 2011 to raise money for the project.

“We weren’t sure what caused that,” Oksner said. “We were all surprised by it. None of us felt that our original estimates were loopy.”

The overall budget for the monument is about $8 million, including construction costs, artist fees, site studies and preparation, the fabrication of artistic elements and the cost of the national design competition.

The development council has raised $4.4 million to date and the federal government has contributed $4 million.

…The monument consists of six concrete and metal mesh triangular walls displaying large landscape photos by famed photographer Edward Burtynsky. The walls will be arrayed in the form of a Star of David, enclosing a central area and a contemplation space featuring an eternal flame.

“We are getting there slowly but surely,” said Rabbi Daniel Friedman, chair of the development council. “Fundraising is on track to build the most impressive holocaust monument in the world.”

After the construction contract bids came in well over budget, the National Capital Commission, which is responsible for the monument’s construction and will assume ownership once it’s completed, surveyed the contractors.

Its findings convinced the council and the project team that the contractors had “overestimated a lot of things,” Oksner said. “For example, they overestimated the amount of concrete compared to what we estimated by something like 80 per cent.”

To reduce costs, the project team has made a few minor changes to the monument design, Oksner said.

Architect Daniel Libeskind has reduced the size of a high wall near the entrance to the monument — something he been thinking about doing anyway — to make the monument more welcoming for visitors, Oksner said.

…The monument is now scheduled to be unveiled on April 24, 2017, the day that Yom HaShoah falls on that year.

Tendering problems cause one-year delay in National Holocaust Monument | Ottawa Citizen.