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http://www.montrealgazette.com/Enter...335/story.html

MSO concert hall has price tag of $267M

Project was pegged at $105 million in 2006

By ARTHUR KAPTAINIS, The GazetteMarch 26, 2009



The Quebec Culture Ministry has announced that a team including Montreal construction giant SNC-Lavalin Inc. and Diamond and Schmitt Architects of Toronto will build the MSO concert hall at a cost of $267 million - almost 21/2 times the $105-million sticker attached to the project when it was launched in 2006 by Premier Jean Charest.

SNC-Lavalin spokesperson Gillian MacCormack refused to comment on this discrepancy, and all other details, on the grounds that arrangements have not been finalized.

An engineer connected to the project said that the higher figure included changes to Place des Arts parking and other infrastructure work, not just the cost of the aboveground facility.

Organized as a public-private partnership, the hall at the vacant northeast corner of Place des Arts will be finished in the summer of 2011, according to a government communiqué.

Jack Diamond, the architect behind the acclaimed Four Seasons Centre in Toronto, said yesterday that Montrealers could expect a contemporary interpretation of a classic room. "The classic shoebox design, like the Musikverein in Vienna - this is a modern version."

Drawings cannot be released, he added, before contracts are signed.

Despite the price hike, Finance Minster Monique Jérôme-Forget described the agreement as practical for the province: "We will know exactly how much it will cost to build, use and to maintain this hall before construction begins, an undeniable advantage in a budgetary period of constraint."

Diamond said that the PPP system, which calls for a private consortium to build the hall and lease it to the government for 40 years, is an effective guarantor of quality. "Rather than cut the costs to the bone and hand it over, the builder has to manage it. This is a very different affair. They want no operational difficulties over that period."

Other companies involved in the consortium - operating under the umbrella name of Groupe immobilier Ovation - are Aedifica, a Montreal architectural firm; Aecon, an infrastructure contractor; Solotech, a lighting supplier; and Gala Systems, specializing in theatrical machinery. Ovation was one of three teams chosen as finalists and asked for detailed plans.

Artec, a noted New York acoustical company, was hired by the province as its consultant in 2006. Diamond said that he nevertheless plans to work with Robert Essert, the former Artec executive who collaborated with him on the Four Seasons Centre.

This facility, home of the Canadian Opera Company, is noted not only for its fine acoustics and impeccable sightlines but for having come in on budget. Another high-profile Diamond performing-arts project is Sidney Harman Hall in Washington, D.C., home of the Shakespeare Company.

Diamond stressed that the building would be a dedicated concert hall, not a multi-purpose facility like Salle Wilfrid Pelletier, the central structure in Place des Arts in which the MSO has performed, for better or worse, since 1963.

"It can be used for jazz and other types of music," Diamond said, "but the main game is the symphony, to create a symphony hall that will be among the best in the world."

The news will presumably give Kent Nagano a reason to renew his contract as MSO music director, which expires in 2011 - the year of the projected opening.

akaptainis@sympatico.ca

Good news, having the OSM in SWP is like having the Habs play at a curling rink.

Knowing Diamond and Schmitt Architects, this building is not going to be 'loud' in it's architecture, but concert halls must be function-first and the firm has proven they are capable of these difficult buildings. It's a safe, conservative choice, but a smart one.

http://www.dsai.ca/