Contractor recommended to build new $193M south Ottawa police station

New south-end police facility The Ottawa Police Services Board is outlining new details about a facility coming to Barrhaven. CTV’s Peter Szperling reports.

A construction company that will build the nearly $200-million Ottawa Police Service south-end facility on Prince of Wales Drive has been chosen.

A report prepared for Monday's Ottawa Police Services Board Meeting recommends the board award a $115,452,850 contract to Broccolini Construction to build the south facility at 3505 Prince of Wales. The report says Broccolini was the lowest bidder meeting all necessary criteria. Three bids were received.

The contract includes a 7.5 per cent contingency, worth just over $8 million, to account for unknown conditions that might arise during construction.

The project would see the Ottawa Police Service develop around eight acres of a 15-acre site on Prince of Wales Drive near Lodge Road. The 218,000 sq. ft. facility is intended to replace the Leitrim and Greenbank police stations, as well as several leased properties. A new 911 Communications Centre would be housed in the new facility.

The Ottawa Police Services Board approved plans for a new police station in 2013, but the plan was stalled in 2021 because of rising construction costs linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The board is also being asked to redirect $8.7-million worth of funds from other projects to fill budget gaps for the south facility project, now valued at $193.7 million. Costs have been increasing due to the scope of the project, the report says. In June, the board approved a $7-million transfer from the Queensview Drive expansion project to the south facility, leaving a gap of another $8.9 million, which is expected to be filled by cancelling an assessment for a new central facility and using money originally earmarked for a 2035 project at the Elgin Street headquarters.

A date for construction to be completed was not included in the report prepared for the board meeting Monday, but last year, a report for the board suggested it would take approximately three years to complete the project if a contract was awarded in early 2023.