Are Tim Hortons Field structural redesigns typical or unusual?

Hamilton officials confirm that major design changes to Tim Hortons Stadium included the need to reinforce support footings and strengthening the steel structure to improve the safety of the stadium when full of cheering fans.

But unlike union leaders who say the scope of the changes are unusual, they say the degree of revisions and fixes are normal in a design-build process.

The state of that troubled construction process will be on the agenda again Tuesday as the city's Pan Am sub-committee meets with Pan Am organizers and the provincial agency overseeing construction.

Officials from the local ironworkers union, as well as the brick workers, say their workers had to scramble last fall to accommodate surprising design changes in the steel structure of the $145-million stadium, which was due to be finished on June 30 but is now nearly three months late.

If you’re building a stadium, you better make sure you get the stadium design right.- Tony DiMaria, Brick and Allied Craft Union

The design problems focused on “sway,” which is the structure’s ability to safely accommodate the movement of 22,500 people, said Tony DiMaria, business manager of the Brick and Allied Craft Union Local 1 in Hamilton. Modifications included repouring some cement footings and adding steel to improve the safety of the structure.

There were also scheduling problems, he said, where his workers would build brick walls that would have to be reopened so duct work could be added after the fact.

“They’ll tell you it was build design, and sure enough, as you build, you design,” DiMaria said.

“But the way I’m looking at it — and this is my opinion — if you’re building a stadium, you better make sure you get the stadium design right.”

Lloyd Ferguson, Ancaster councillor and construction industry veteran who chairs the city's Pan Am subcommittee, confirmed that changes were made. But he insists that’s not worrying or unusual. The stadium was a design build, which means designs are modified as the project goes along.

“I’ve done many of these contracts in a previous life and this stuff has been designed on the fly,” he said.

“I can tell you in my experience in a design build that the design and build go on simultaneously.”

Lloyd is sugar coating everything.- MPP Paul Miller

Paul Miller, MPP for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek and NDP critic for the Pan Am Games, disputes that such redesigns are ordinary. He’s heard rumblings of design issues for months, he said, and stories that don’t add up.

“Lloyd is sugar coating everything,” said Miller, a former ironworker and industrial mechanic. “Minor changes in structure, yes. You might need an extra beam here or an extra conduit there. You make small changes.

“When you’re designing a stadium this big, and apparently they’ve done it before, they should know what’s required with the basic structural strength and basic load stress.

“Engineers should know this when they’re building a stadium.”

Tim Hortons Field replaced the former Ivor Wynne stadium in Hamilton’s Pan Am precinct. Infrastructure Ontario (IO) is overseeing the project, which is being built by Ontario Sports Solutions (ONSS), a consortium of Kanaidan Contracting Ltd. of Mississauga and Bouygues Building Canada, whose parent company is based in France.

The city is arm’s length in the project until the stadium is finished, when the city takes possession. Initially due on June 30, the stadium was barely ready enough for the Labour Day Classic when the Hamilton Tiger-Cats played the Toronto Argonauts. The current estimated completion date is Oct. 2.

During construction, things change in the design and sometimes reinforcing or repackaging of materials, such as structural steel, is required.- Infrastructure Ontario

The Milton velodrome and a York University athletics stadium, which will also be used during the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games, are also behind schedule. ONSS is also building those.

John McKendrick, executive vice president of IO, was unavailable for comment. But the organization said in an email Tuesday that the design changes were ONSS’s risk, and “there is no impact to taxpayers or the project cost.”

Site was 'under-engineered,' union says

IO echoed Ferguson’s assertion that such changes are “a normal process of every design-build project.”

“During construction, things change in the design and sometimes reinforcing or repackaging of materials, such as structural steel, is required,” IO said.

The design was “certified by two engineering firms as well as architects” and the stadium is “safe and is built according to Ontario building codes.”

James Hannah, business manager of Ironworkers Hamilton Local 736, said his members were working on site when the builders “quickly found that it was under-engineered.”

More steel was brought in to reinforce the structure, he said. It involved reinforcing existing steel columns and adding steel plates to brace the structure.

“It happens,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s typical, but it does happen.”

But it seemed like “an extraordinary amount for something that’s new.”

Do I think they could have done it faster? Yes.- Gerry Davis, manager of public works

The contractors attributed the stadium’s delay to a harsh winter and a subcontractor going bankrupt, which everyone says were surely delays. Estimates also changed. In January, ONSS and IO estimated it was two weeks behind schedule. By March, they warned it was six weeks behind schedule. By June 30, they hoped to have it ready by the first Tiger-Cats home game at the end of July.

Miller said he’s felt all along that something was amiss. He didn’t call IO to find out, but said he stood in the legislature several times and asked questions.

“I’ve been all along saying the delays couldn’t possible be because of just the weather, or just because of a contractor going under,” he said.

In the last few months, “I went and looked at the stadium a couple of times and I could see things weren’t going to be done.”

Will be 'in court for years,' NDP's Paul Miller says

The public has been misled about the project, he said.

“It’s poor management,” he said. “It’s design flaws.” The issue, he predicts, will be “in court for years.”

Regardless of the commonality of structural changes, that seems likely. On Aug. 26, McKendrick told the media that there had been structural design changes to the stadium, but how much that contributed to the delay will be worked out in the coming months.

Greg Stack of Kenaidan Contracting, who couldn’t be contacted for this story, declined comment then about the causes for the delay.

“I’m not prepared to talk about why there’s a delay or the reasons for it,” he told reporters. “Everyone has their own interpretation of that, so that will be resolved. Our goal right now is to finish the stadium.”

Ferguson and city officials asked questions during meetings with the contractor, Ferguson said. But his mind was put at ease after the city hired its own independent engineer to inspect the stadium — a move that Gerry Davis, manager of public works, says is standard practice.

But Davis echoed that structural changes such as the ones described for the stadium are common. The city had to make changes to its structural steel design when it build a four-pad arena a few years ago, he said.

The foundation wasn’t modified in that case, he said, but the arena didn’t have to bear the load that the stadium does.

“When you’re designing it and procuring it, the full design isn’t completed,” he said. “You’re procuring as you go and you have to make adjustments.”

The city wanted the project to happen faster, Davis said. As for the cause of the delay, “I just have what IO has told me,” which is problems with the winter and the contractor going bankrupt.

“Do I think they could have done it faster?” he said. “Yes.”