What happened to original $1 million hospital design contract?
What happened to original $1 million hospital design contract?
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Posted by editor Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
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A question for the people in charge of the construction of our “new hospital: What happened to the original contract that was entered into with Aspen Street Architects Inc. firm, that we have already paid around a million dollars for?
I have been involved in the construction industry for over fifty years, and up to now, when a contract is signed and an agreement is made for a firm to design and build a building for any purpose, that is a binding agreement between the firm and the customer to do just that.That means that the architect has now agreed to design and see that all the required phases necessary to complete the project are done to the satisfaction of all parties involved. I could go into the long list of different agencies that fall into that category, but the most important of all is O.S.H.P.D., the State of California’s unit that must approve of any and all hospital construction in this state. That includes adherence to all rules, restrictions, and requirements of all parties concerned until the completion of the project to the satisfaction of the customer. That contract was put into motion when the folks at Aspen started the project. That contract is still in effect, and will remain so until the completion of construction of “our” hospital. Any need for any additional approval or clarification is now the responsibility of the folks at Aspen.
The TVHD should not have to hire or pay any outside organization for further services. This policy should remain in effect until the completion of the hospital.
— E.B. ‘Ted’ Velguth
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The TVHD-Aspen Street Architects contract is still in force and what we are working to in trying to figure out how to build this hospital in the most cost effective way and at the lowest risk. Aspen Street agreed that an independent architectural review was a good idea to look at the best approach to building this design and perhaps discover any major "errors and omissions" that might exist BEFORE construction start as it would be easier and cheaper to fix. Discovering them in the middle of the construction period would be a lot more expensive and time consuming. We're also trying to get an actual cost estimate to determine more exactly what the construction would cost (don't know for sure yet) and what our budget shortfall might be BEFORE we go out for construction bid and find out we can't afford it, as we expect at this time. The whole idea here is to mitigate risk and increase probability of success BEFORE construction begins exactly because we DO NOT have enough money right now and DO NOT want any more schedule delays. We're NOT trying to "throw these plans out" for "glitches" after four years of time and money invested but in fact just the opposite! The community has come too far and invested too much without trying VERY HARD to make a go of it to figure out how to best build it and afford it! Right now we DO have some (limited) time to figure out the best construction approach and pre-screen contractors for the best we can get who are specifically qualified for Calif. hospital construction. THAT'S what the TVHD is trying to do for the Tehachapi community, nothing else!
