SJSC “State Real Estate” (SRE) has announced an open tender for construction companies to carry out the remaining construction works necessary to complete the reconstruction of the Valmiera Drama Theatre building until the commissioning of the facility, informs Jelena (Jeļena) Gavrilova, Member of the Board of SJSC “State Real Estate”.
“SRE is doing everything that depends on us as the client to ensure the continuity of the reconstruction of the Valmiera Drama Theatre (VDT) building so that in the first half of 2024 the theatre team could return to the reconstructed premises. After the termination of the contract with the general partnership “SBSC”, SRE successfully managed to attract a builder to carry out emergency works in order to avoid conservation works and continue the works envisaged in the construction project. We hope that the construction tender we are now tendering for will also succeed in finding a responsible and thorough contractor,” says Gavrilova.
In accordance with the terms of the tender, the estimated time for completion of the works is 14 months, and contractors have to submit their tenders until 1 March 2023 at 10.00 a.m. To apply and for more information on the procurement visit: https://www.eis.gov.lv/EKEIS/Supplier/Procurement/95010
Until May, urgent construction work will continue in the VDT building to ensure the mechanical strength and stability of the load-bearing structures, including the reinforcement of the foundations, the construction and the erection of the load-bearing structures of the building in accordance with the solutions of the building design. The € 1.75 million contract with the construction company “AIMASA” Ltd. was signed at the beginning of November 2022 and the works are currently progressing according to the planned construction schedule.
SRE terminated the contract with the previous contractor of the VDT building construction works – the general partnership “SBSC, because after repeated requests it was unable to justify the construction cost increase of 50% of the construction contract amount or EUR 3.8 million (VAT included) in accordance with the regulatory enactments, including the guidelines on estimation and compensation of construction cost increase developed by the Ministry of Economics the causal link with the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, as well as the failure to provide documents to substantiate the validity of the claimed increase in several items of the estimate. Also, the actual execution of the works was significantly behind the contractual deadline – on 30 September 2022 the actual execution of works was only 21%, although according to the contractual schedule, it should have been 50 % of the total workload. The general partnership “SBSC” is also behind schedule in the New Riga Theatre complex redevelopment project – in this project the contractor is tasked to mobilize resources to complete the contract on time and deliver results.
The VDT building is a valuable example of modern architecture of its time and is a cultural heritage site The main hall of the building - the Big Hall - was opened to the public at the end of 1996 instead of the former Latvian society house by architects M. Ģelzis, O. Upaciere and J. Gusevs project as a large-scale modern wall building with two halls, a theatre museum, an art salon and a café. However, the theatre building as a whole was not safely commissioned until December 2004.
After completion of the reconstruction in the first half of 2024, the VDT building will have increased energy efficiency and improved energy management, it will ensure a more comfortable working environment for the theatre staff, a new black box hall and improved environmental accessibility. The estimated total cost of the VDT project is €10.41 million (including the costs of construction, design, supervision, equipment, etc.).
The procurement is implemented within the framework of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) project "Energy Efficiency Improvement at Valmiera Drama Theatre, 4 Lāčplēša Street, Valmiera" (ID No.4.2.1.2/18/I/019). The construction works will be implemented with the co-financing of the European Union within the framework of the Measure 4.2.1.2 "Promoting energy efficiency in public and residential buildings" of the Specific Support Objective 4.2.1 of the Operational Programme "Growth and Employment".
SRE successfully implements 44 projects of national importance, 24 of which are under construction. The total implementation budget for the projects is more than EUR 336 million. SRE provides professional real estate management and administration for 365 building and construction properties, comprising 1100 buildings with an area of 0.95 million m2, as well as land under buildings with an area of 602 ha, and 3536 land properties with a total area of 903 ha. SRE is one of the 23 Latvian companies that last year received the highest platinum award in the Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Institute’s “Sustainability Index”, demonstrating good governance and sustainability of its operations. The company was founded in 1996 and is 100% owned by the Ministry of Finance.
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