The legal process the City of Portage la Prairie, RM of Portage la Prairie and Portage Regional Recreation Authority (PRRA) launched against contractors and engineers involved in the PCU Centre construction appears to be moving forward.

A sample of a stainless steel purlin, or beam, taken from the roof of the Shindleman Aquatic Centre in Portage la Prairie shows heavy deterioration. (photo by Matt Hermiz)

In a release today, PRRA says it, the City and RM filed a statement of claim against the defendants -- Tower Engineering Group Limited Partnership, Tower Engineering Group Inc., Stuart Olson Construction Ltd, Stantec Architecture Ltd., Stantec Consulting Ltd., Ambassador Mechanical Corp and Crane Steel Structures -- Dec. 23.

The claim seeks special damages, damages to compensate the cost of remedial work, general damages, related costs and other relief as the case may require. There is no indiciation yet from the City, RM or PRRA on what those costs may total.

Mayor Irvine Ferris says the legal process could take years to fully resolve. The City and RM will share repair costs in the interim. As per the funding agreement between the municipalities, the City will cover two-thirds of of capital investments, while the RM pays one-third. For resulting operational PRRA deficits, the city covers three-quarters and the RM one-quarter.

"These repairs have to be paid for as they go and we won't necessarily have a settlement from the court before the bill comes due," Mayor Ferris says.

The Shindleman Aquatic Centre has been closed since Oct. 31 due to structural safety concerns with the pool's roof under a heavy snow load.

PRRA also released the findings of reports commissioned by two engineering firms, KGS Group and TestLabs International, to assess the condition and safety of the PCU Centre in Portage la Prairie. The PRRA says the studies were ordered after PCU Centre staff noticed issues such as "insufficient insulation, excessive condensation and rusting of the building structure."

According to the KGS report, the roof beams showed signs of corrosion and cracking. The roof system at the pool is missing some columns and beam flange braces. It also identified many issues tied to humidity and air control in the pool, stating "the supply and return air duct arrangement does not follow a typical pool air distribution design."

Along with urging the closure of the pool during winter 2016, the KGS report urged further investigation -- including destructive investigation -- to determine the cause of condensation problems on the building. It also suggested missing structural components be installed immediately.

The TestLabs report further analyzed the stainless steel roof beams, also finding stress corrosion cracking. The report explains the cracks are causing "severe deterioration" of the roof beams. It concluded the "thousands of stress corrosion cracks" in the beams will continually grow in size with continued pool use -- making it unsafe. The TestLab report further says the structural designers and those who supply the steel beams used for the pool's roof should have been aware of the corrosive environment existing at the ceiling height of indoor swimming pools.

PRRA general manager David Sattler says the original design plans for the aquatic centre roof called for a galvanized epoxy painted steel, but a recommendation was made by Crane Steel Structures -- one of the named defendants in the court filing -- to switch to stainless steel.

"Under the pretense that with this option there will be no additional upkeep or maintenance costs that can associated with epoxy covered (beams)," Sattler says. "... That was brought to the City and RM, and the change order was approved based on the recommendation from the contractors that it would be a better product."

RM of Portage la Prairie Deputy Reeve Roy Tufford says "as public officials we're not experts on these things, that's why we hire consulting engineers to tell us what to do. And obviously we didn't get the best advice."

The recommendations of both the KGS and TestLabs reports led to the closure of the aquatic centre, the PRRA says. 

A third report prepared by KGS inspected the conditions of the remainder of the PCU Centre. It identified several breaches in the building causing drafts, cold spaces, frozen sprinkler pipes, water infiltration condensation and insect entrances.

There were also structural concerns identified in the arenas in the report: "... the pre-engineered metal building systems of the two arenas are missing cross-bracing and rigid frame flange braces which are required for the overall structural integrity of the bulidings." KGS recommended consulting with pre-engineered manufacturers to confirm missing components, and replace immediately if required. 

Sattler says these missing bracers in the arenas have already been replaced, and there are presently no structural concerns with the PCU Centre, aside from the pool's roof.

A mechanical systems review was also commissioned, and found a lack of fire sealing of the mechanical room, lack of controls in the design of the ice plant heat recovery system, missing insulation on the heating system serving one of the arenas and inadequate heating in the multi-purpose room and entrance stairs.

KGS is also preparing another report that explores the costs to repair structural issues and other concerns identified. Sattler says costs tied to all the major items identified in the report, including: the aquatic centre roof, the concrete of the Portage Mutual Arena, the dehumidification system in the pool and the PCU Centre heat recovery system, are being sought as damages. Other minor issues will be absorbed by the PRRA. 

"Some of them, it's more costly to include it in the legal battle than it is to repair ourselves," Sattler explains.

None of the reports' findings change the current course of action and plan to re-open the pool by September 2017, Ferris and Sattler explain. Requests for proposals will be issued at the end of January, and the hope is to have a tender awarded by late February or early March, allowing the pool roof repairs to commence as soon as the weather allows it.

The job will require the total replacement of the roof at the Shindleman Aquatic Centre. That includes the stainless steel beams, and everything that sits above them, the dehumidification system, ducts and sprinklers, Sattler explains.