As Greg mentioned, I didn’t get to attend yesterday’s press conference about the stadium concept design. And despite all the information that’s available on the city’s website, reginarevitalization.ca, I still had questions. So I phoned up Brent Sjoberg, Deputy City Manager & CFO and the main guy on this stadium project, and he took some time to answer them.
I don’t have time to transcribe this so Brent said it’s okay for me to post the audio here. I took out a little bit of irrelevant chit chat at the front and end but other than that, this is the complete interview.
Stuff we discuss:
• What was it that was launched yesterday, exactly?
• What will the design competition look like and over what time frame will it happen?
• Why are they going with such finished-looking drawings going into the competition?
• Why are they releasing these images to the public? And might these not create misconceptions in the public?
• Did the province’s requirement that the stadium be “roof ready” change the kind of Public Private Partnership that the city could pursue?
There’s more, but those are roughly the kinds of questions I asked.
Download the full stadium concept interview with Brent Sjoberg. (10.9MB mp3)
Oh, a note about some acronyms that were getting thrown around…. “P3” refers at one point to P3 Architecture, a local architectural firm (they did the work on the 13th Ave Safeway redevelopment) and then later it refers to a Public Private Partnership.
Then we also discuss the difference between a “DBF P3”, which refers to a Design Build Finance P3, the kind the city is going with on the stadium project, and a “DBFM P3″, which refers to a Design Build Finance Maintain P3. In a DBFM P3, the company contracted to build the facility would also be responsible for its long-term maintenance. In the DBF P3 the city is going with, the company hired for the stadium replacement will design it and build it but, in our case, the Regina Exhibition Association Ltd will be in charge of the maintenance and operations.
