The West Shore Royal Canadian Legion Branch 91 is scaling back some of its plans for extensive upgrades to its Langford location due to high construction material costs and delays.
Since April, the Langford Legion has undergone extensive renovations that branch president Norm Scott says were desperately needed. First built in 1964, the building was overdue to receive seismic upgrades and have asbestos removed.
“It was coming to the point that our repairs were getting extensive and there seemed to be no end to having to spend money every month for repairs,” said Scott.
The budget for the project is set at $4 million and would provide an additional 4,000 square feet to the existing building. Along with that, Scott has plans to upgrade its auditorium, restaurant, dance hall and fully air condition the building.
About $1.5 million has been spent so far and the Legion president has growing concerns that rising material costs and delays in getting them will put the project over budget.
“We wanted to improve our office space…that has been chopped,” said Scott.
Another challenge has been finding sufficient labour, according to construction manager Justin de Goesbriand with Sawyer Construction.
At the beginning of the pandemic, job ads for the project were posted but found minimal success.
“We were basically spending money without really getting anything out of it. In three years we recruited three staff,” said de Goesbriand.
However, things may improve if everything goes as planned. de Goesbriand says that he was able to hire an additional three workers last week, but more are always welcomed.
The project is slated to be completed by March 2023 and Scott is hopeful he won’t have to scale back any further improvements.
Donations to the Legion are always accepted. For more information, you can visit their website here.
Oli Herrera
