The school replacement project will include a neighbourhood learning centre, along with fitness, arts, and library facilities. The building will be approximately 18,000 square metres and key features include green space for student learning, an all-weather playing field, three gymnasiums, and a 350-seat theatre.  Important components of the project include the preservation of the historical façade and certification as a LEED Gold building.

Primarily, the cost overruns are being associated with land remediation, extensions to soundwalls, pathways connections and landscaping. However, what is not clear is whether these costs were originally planned for and are the result of poor management, or if the additional expenditures are the result of new items that have been added onto the project.

Alderman Brian Pincott is upset because one cost was not included in the original budget at all. The City of Calgary has a standing policy that one per cent of an infrastructure project’s cost must be directed to procuring art for the asset. Under this policy about $8.6 million should have been allocated for purchasing art for LRT stations. However, this cost was apparently not included in the original budget and has currently not been included in the revised cost of the project.

The West LRT line is undergoing testing right now and is expected to open early in 2013. The tests included running LRT vehicles along the lines and testing the supporting infrastructure, such as crossing arms and signalling systems.

According to Janice Skot, CEO of RVH, “After more than a decade of planning, fundraising and construction the region’s dream is a reality. The expansion of RVH will provide Simcoe Muskoka residents with enhanced services and timely access to healthcare closer to home. Our provincial government — the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, along with our colleagues at Infrastructure Ontario — has demonstrated its outstanding commitment to safe, quality healthcare for our region’s residents.”

The expansion cost $370 million and ranked 73 on the 2012 Top 100 list. The project was completed using a Build-Finance model, which was organised and executed by Carillion Construction.

The PHAI consists of a massive clean up and remediation of over one million cubic metres of soil that was contaminated due to radium and uranium processing at a site in the Port Hope area.

Upcoming work includes three major road upgrade contracts, a wastewater treatment plant, and a long-term waste management facility.

Another contract that will go out eventually has to do with the required inspection of close to 4,500 homes in the area. As part of the plan to ensure as much contamination is removed as possible, 4,500 homes will be inspected, including:, with tests ranging from soil sampling, wipe testing inside the home for various contaminants, and tests for radon gas.

In all, van Veen expects that close to 10 per cent of those homes will require some level of remediation. Possible remediation options for the homes could include major soil excavation from 1 foot to several metres, drywall removal, the removal of timber/beams, and floor removal.

According to van Veen, in the 1930s and 1940s when many of these homes were built, there was an excess of timber at the nearby uranium/radium processing site and many people constructing their homes used the wood without realizing that it was contaminated.

The Pioneer project, located about 70 kilometres west of Edmonton, was awarded government funding in October, 2009. It secured $342.8-million from the federal government, through its $1-billion Clean Energy Fund and its $27-million ecoENERGY Technology Initiative. Alberta committed $436-million from its CCS technology fund. It also had a $5-million (Australian) pledge from Australia’s Global CCS Institute, a not-for-profit organization.

CCS projects had been becoming increasingly popular in the prairie provinces. The Top 100 list for 2011 included one CCS pilot—Alberta’s Project Pioneer, the first-ever CCS project to make it onto the Top 100. In 2012, two more projects joined the list.

This project amalgamated the Eglinton LRT and Scarborough RT conversion to LRT and put the entirety of the Eglinton portion underground. However, with the recent shift in support at Toronto’s city council to go back to a focus on LRT, rather than the subways advocated for by the mayor, Metrolinx will again proceed with the Eglinton and Scarborough projects separately.

For the Eglinton portion of the LRT system Metrolinx will continue with the Design, Bid, Build (DBB) tenders for tunnel construction, which will be starting in late summer 2012. However, the DBB format will only be used for tunnel construction, the remainder of the project will be examined by Infrastructure Ontario to consider the feasibility of delivering the remainder of the project through an Alternative Financing and Procurement program.

The report also describes the progress that has been made to date on the project. This includes the purchasing of the old Kodak Lands for a LRT storage and maintenance yard, the start of construction on the tunnel boring machine launch site, along with the ordering of the LRT vehicles, tunnel liners, tunnel boring machines, and extensive geotechnical testing.

“With the selection of Plenary Health as preferred proponent, we are excited to be moving forward with the conclusion of negotiations for building the new heart and surgical centre,” said Interior Health board chair Norman Embree. “This new centre brings us closer to our goal of developing the KGH site into a world-class health care campus that serves the entire Interior Health region.”

Demolition work for the project is expected to begin in summer 2012 at the completion of a performance based agreement. The new facility will include 15 operating rooms, 2 of which will be dedicated for cardiac surgeries. The IHSC building will be constructed at the corner of Pandosy Street and Rose Avenue. The existing Pandosy building will be demolished to make way for the new IHSC building.

1)      Establish and set timelines for major energy projects

2)      Reduce duplication and regulatory burdens

3)      Strengthen environmental protection

4)      Enhance consultation with Aboriginal peoples

For major energy projects, such as the Lower Churchill Hydroelectric project, approved in March 2012, the reduction of duplicated testing and report processes could dramatically reduce the timeline to project approval. By establishing set timelines for project reviews, the government is attempting to reduce the financial burden and risk to developers, with the intent of creating a more positive atmosphere for investment.

While reducing overlapping regulations is important, as is providing an accurate timeline for approval, it remains to be seen how the regulatory changes will impact projects that have cross-jurisdictional boundaries, such as pipelines or transmission lines.

As for the Top 100 projects, one project that stands to benefit substantially from these changes is the Site C Clean Energy Project in British Columbia. Because the review process is in the early stages, a reduction is reporting requirements alone could potentially ensure that this project is approved faster.

Of course, major regulatory overhauls don’t happen overnight. A shift towards these changes should probably be expected to take four years or more to fully implement. With hundreds of projects in various stages of development across the country, coordinating the shift to a new regulatory structure is going to be a challenging task.

The changes will have their most significant effect on future projects on the Top 100 list. The budget document highlights the NaiKun Wind Energy Project, a proposed $1.6-billion wind farm that is to be located off the coast of British Columbia. We put it on the Top 100 list in 2010, but  removed it when significant development hurdles, including delays in the necessary environmental approvals, stalled the project. If these changes are implemented, this project could easily return to a spot in the top 10 projects.

The 407 East Development Group won the contract and consists of a consortium of companies including SNC Lavalin and Cintra Infraestructuras S. A.. Both are the current lease holders on the existing 407 highway. In a considerable diversion from the current operating model, the province will retain full control over fees and operations of the highway. The existing section of the 407 was sold by the previous government for a one time fee, in exchange for a 99 year lease.

Infrastructure Ontario and the ministry of transportation are currently in negotiations with the preferred bidders and they are expected to wrap up in the spring of 2012. According to transportation and infrastructure minister Bob Chiarelli “Today is an important step forward in our commitment to extend Highway 407 East. This project is part of the McGuinty government’s long-term infrastructure plan and demonstrates our commitment to creating jobs,  strengthening the economy and building strong communities.”