The Cariboo Regional District board has approved an additional $146,000 in 2013 Community Works Funding be allocated towards energy efficient upgrades and building materials for the new Anahim Lake airport terminal building, slated for construction in the spring.
That will bring the total cost of the project to around $400,000, Darron Cambpell, manager of community services said.
Improved insulation and envelope, heating and lighting systems, and follow-up energy modelling will make up the bulk of the energy efficient upgrades.
It will add additional costs to what Area L Director Bruce Rattray said is an "expensive" project.
"We need some level of assurance that this is a reasonable price we're paying," Rattray said.
Campbell told the CRD board at its Nov. 15 regular meeting, there was a request for proposals, that's where the price tag for the project came from.
"I do truly wish the cost was lower, but when you go out to the market to build a building in a place like Anahim Lake, that's the kind of responses we got," Campbell said.
In the design build process the CRD received three responses. One company didn't submit an initial base budget for $295,000, and told the CRD it was a $500,000-building based on the scope of the request.
"The other two submitted a basic model that did not include much of the functionality that we were after," Campbell said.
Rattray asked if three RFPs was what the CRD expected in terms of the number and quality.
"I would have been satisfied with going with any of the builders that responded," Campbell said. "One was from Kamloops, two were from Williams Lake. I think we were lucky to receive three. The off sight costs to mobilize from there are going to be high. To haul the concrete out there alone will be expensive."
Zirnhelt Timber Frames Ltd. was awarded the contract, construction will begin in spring 2013. The design features structural wood walls made from cross laminated timbers, a covered storage pad for the new runway sweeper, and a second floor to accommodate an airport caretaker as required, Campbell noted in a report.