CHAPTER 1

  February 20, 2010:   The congregation of Parkwood church at its annual meeting authorized the Facility Planning Team "...to proceed with planning to prepare for the construction of an addition to Parkwood Church which would replace the current Mulvagh Wing. The project would also include consideration of the renovation of the current Fellowship Hall/Kitchen/Meeting Room to provide appropriate facilities for the Christian Education Program, within the budget approved by the Session/Congregation".

  September 26, 2010:   At a special meeting held Sunday September 26, the FPT briefed the congregation on the planning process that had taken place over the summer, using a slide presentation. The process culminated in two recommendations to the congregation that Parkwood session approved unanimously at its August meeting...

• that the Session and Congregation accept Option 1 as presented by Susan Smith Architects and authorize the Facility Planning Team to continue to work with Susan Smith Architects to refine this design to a level to be submitted to tender and approval by Municipal Authorities and lending agencies. The cost of this design work would be charged against the building project.

• that Session and Congregation agree to consider Options 2 or 3 - the expansion of the Fellowship space on the main level if fundraising generates sufficient funds.
The recommendations were approved by the congregation. The goal now faced by the congregation is to raise $175,000 over the period leading up to the next annual meeting in order to proceed with Option 1 (as outlined in the slide presentation - total cost approx. $550,000). Should an additional $110,000 be raised, Option 3 (an additional 500 sq. ft. of fellowship space) would be considered. Should a lot more be raised, Option 2 (a 1500 sq. ft. Fellowship Hall on thesession.htmlsession.html main level combined with renovations to the current Fellowship Hall for classrooms) would come under consideration. It is estimated that a mortgage of $125,000 would be necessary over and above funds raised and existing funds.

  see the site plan and layouts of the ground floor and lower floor proposed in 2010 here.

CHAPTER 2

  2012:   Early in the year the Facility Planning Team, having become aware of substantial additional costs related to exterior work on the property triggered by the proposed design, sought options to reduce those costs (see their report in the April 2012 Pulse, page 3). In their May report (see summer Pulse, p. 4) they reported that exterior costs might be reduced from $250k to around $150k; they requested further work to reduce exterior costs, and should that prove not possible consideration of building on the footprint of the Mulvagh wing. In their Summer report (see the September Pulse, page 4) they reported no progress in reducing external site costs and that they entered into discussions with some folks who were involved in the building project at St. Andrew's Presbyterian in Stittsville regarding their experience in choosing an architect and construction management firm. These led to further discussions with the Stittsville project architect. The team reported in October (see the November Pulse, pp. 4-5) that session had given permission in September to hire the Stittsville project architect David Mailing, and his construction manager to do a feasibility study of building on the Mulvagh footprint and to propose schematics based on our stated space needs. The team was pleased with the speed, response and thoroughness of the new architect, and reported significant progress by mid-October. In several meetings in November and early December the team reported honing the design to a point where a particular drawing was "locked up" and used to do a cost estimate. Details of the design were described in that issue. The team's assessment was that the new design was superior to the 2011 proposal, and was expected to be quite a bit less expensive.

  February 16, 2013:   The Facility Planning Team's report to the annual congregational meeting included a presentation by the architect and construction manager, with upper and lower floor plans and conceptual drawings of the exterior from several vantage points (called "elevations"). Project cost estimates were also received: a low of $771,495, a mid-range of $821,126 and an upper cost estimate of $873,824. See the site plan and layouts of the ground & lower floors proposed in February 2013 here. Those present at the meeting endorsed abandoning the 2011 approach in favour of building on the Mulvagh footprint. It was also evident that the funds available at the end of 2012, $652,983 (including agreed-on borrowing of $125k) were not sufficient to build immediately. A new Fundraising Team was formed and the hope was expressed that we might have the project completed by Parkwood's 50th anniversary in the fall of 2014.

  February 21, 2013:   The new Fundraising Team agreed that the best way to raise the necessary funding for completion of the Parkwood Mulvagh Wing building project was to establish three main sources of support:

• prayer
• special fundraising events
• pledge campaign.
Sub-teams were established to implement and coordinate various tasks. The Fundraising Team also created and agreed to the following Mission Statement:

Mission Statement

The Fundraising Team will work together, in unity of purpose, to achieve the appropriate funding by which the Mulvagh Wing "Building to Serve" (B2S) expansion project is brought to completion so that God's presence in the Parkwood community might be glorified.

Fundraising Team Leader: Stewart Elder

  early November, 2013:   The Facility Planning team’s goal in the revisions was to improve on the February drawings by incorporating various suggestions and basic improvements. Cost reduction was not a consideration at this point. See some drawings including elevations and floor plans here.

  November 24, 2013:   At the special congregational meeting held on this date those present received an update from the Facility Planning Team indicating that donations to the building fund had plateaued and they did not feel that the goal of $850,000 set at the previous congregational meeting was attainable. After much discussion it was agreed to ask the architect to scale back the project to something costing around $700,000, designed in such a way that an addition to incorporate all the features built into the current design at a future time. The Facility Planning Team will now go back to the architect and revised plans should be available for the annual congregational meeting on Saturday February 22.

CHAPTER 3

  At the annual congregational meeting held February 22, 2014 the Facility Planning Team presented a new set of drawings that had been produced by the architect following the November 2013 decision to scale back the project. The November proposal was in effect to cut $100,000 from the estimated construction costs or roughly one third of the proposed footprint. While the revised schematic design reduced the estimated cost of the addition by $84,000 the team is of the view that certain spaces should be included in the project even if they will necessitate renovating parts of the lower level of the existing building. These renovations are estimated to cost $40,000 so the net reduction in estimated costs is $44,000. As a result, the total project cost is now estimated to be $765,000 which includes construction, contingency, legal fees and net taxes.

The congregation approved the proposed schematic design at the cost estimate of $765,000 and requested the team to pursue appropriate ways to reduce the probable cost of the project. The congregation also authorized the borrowing of up to $65,000 for the building expansion. (Original target of $700,000 plus $65,000 equals $765,000)

In terms of funding available, the congregation as of December 31, 2013 had access to nearly $660,000 with the possibility of obtaining a further grant in 2014 of $20,000. The challenge for the congregation in 2014 was to donate funds to meet the original target of $700,000. Most of the construction took place between April 2015 and the fall of 2016 at which time the congregation would need to make donations to cover the borrowing of up to $65,000. The new drawings presented at the Feb. 2014 annual meeting can be seen here.

A decommissioning ceremony was held on April 12, 2015 and shortly thereafter the Mulvagh Wing was demolished. Construction then proceeded on the new facility on roughly the same footprint of the Mulvagh Wing. By March of 2016 enough of the work was finished that an occupancy permit was issued by the city. Finishing this and that continued through the summer and fall, and the more-or-less completed building was dedicated during the worship service on Sunday October 30, 2016. The total cost of the building project eventually exceeded $905,000 and the congregation ended up borrowing $145,000 to complete the building phase. Repayment had already commenced in late 2016, and will continue for several years.

A photo gallery following the construction process from Parkwood's Facebook group can be viewed here. There are 149 photos in total. Due to technical issues a web version will not be produced. Viewing the album via Facebook gives an excellent result. For those not familiar with Facebook, click on the first photo and it will go "full screen". In that view there's a right-arrow on the right side of the pic to advance, and once past the first pic a left arrow to go back. first pic