Roof Wetting At Government Quarry Building

February 20, 2019

Earlier today, the Minister of Public Works Lt/Col David Burch hosted a traditional roof wetting at the Government Quarry for one of the two recently completed Artemis Buildings. The new buildings will house stores equipment and heavy machinery respectively.

Speaking at the event, Minister Burch said, “Good afternoon and welcome to the Government Quarry in Bailey’s Bay – the principal location of the Department of Works & Engineering – the home of the Asphalt Plant, Recycling Plant, Ministry Stores, Heavy Equipment and repair shops.

“This has been a long journey, an almost two year one to provide modern, state of the art Stores facility and Heavy Machinery Repair Shop. We are here today to conduct the traditional Bermudian roof wetting of two buildings.

“Let me start by commending and thanking all the workers here at the Quarry – who have worked under some very trying and difficult circumstances over an extended period of time – but you have stayed the course and persevered – so thank you.

Artemis Building Roof Wetting Bermuda Feb 20 2019 (1)

“Before we get to the business at hand – a bit of background is appropriate. The Ministry of Public Works has for more than 4 years budgeted to build a new facility for the heavy Equipment Shop with little forward movement.

“The state of disrepair of these buildings has contributed to inefficiencies and loss of productivity as the Heavy Machine shop had to be temporarily relocated to cramped accommodation at Southside and sections of stores to the old St. David’s Post Office building.

“The buildings being replaced have long past their fit for purpose date.

“In the case of stores which will move from 4 locations to one building – one can readily see the potential for greater efficiencies in a stores that carries over half a million items for almost every vehicle or piece of equipment we hold.

“A minimum of parts were ordered since there was no capacity to store them. This created many problems and exacerbated the maintenance problems as large parts like tires, windshields, and mechanical parts could not be held in stock but had to be special ordered.

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“We will transition to a modern facility and equally modern method of not only storing parts and supplies but also in tracking and managing them to provide economies of scale and cost savings in the reordering process.

“In the new building – stores will be on one floor and the high ceiling and effective racking will increase storage capacity and storage management.

“The Heavy Equipment shop has responsibility for repairing a significant number of the more than 100 pieces of vehicles and equipment held by the Ministry – work that was carried out in a building that was more than 60 years old.

“Much of that equipment sits outside in the elements with the anticipated detrimental effects. The new facility will allow for the repair of vehicles in a state of the art environment, out of the elements and provide for storage of vehicles under cover.

“Early in 2018 our stores supervisor, Mr. Mitchell Deshield floated the idea of purchasing the Artemis Building for use somewhere in the Ministry.

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“The offer was made and accepted – to purchase the building for $250,000 – a bargain basement price I might add. The building is 20,000 sq. ft. with 4 large doors. It was decided to split the building in two to create a new stores facility and a heavy equipment shop.

“Both buildings are designed to sustain Category 5 Hurricane winds. The building actually survived Category 4 Hurricane Nicole while situated at Morgan’s Point in 2016.

“Both buildings will have a Mezzanine floor added to accommodate offices, meeting rooms and bathrooms.

“During construction of the heavy equipment store – we found that it would be cost effective to incorporate a large water tank and a permanent generator. This building will remain fully operational during any Hurricane – so will also serve as our critical command center for the Quarry operations during an emergency.

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“One of our star Bermudian Civil Engineers – Carmen Trott started as the project manager and was replaced by another star Bermudian Engineer, Tina Searle after Carmen was assigned to the Kings Wharf reconstruction project.

“Construction work was carried out by local contractors following a public bidding process. The electrical work will done by our in-house team.

“The total cost once completed will be around $4.3M – versus the cost of a new traditional build at $450 per sq. ft. or roughly 9 M. Essentially we are able to build these two buildings for half the price of a new construction within 8 months. This is an excellent example of recycling and cost savings.

“By building these two new facilities we fix two major operational problems at the Quarry. Instead of waiting to the original 2021 completion date – the buildings are completed and fit out will take a few more weeks – everything will be finished before the end of the 2nd quarter.

“My thanks to the entire team who made this happen – ably led by the Chief Engineer, Mr. Yves [Bob] Lortie.”

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Comments (27)

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  1. Question says:

    Anothet long-term benefit of the America’s Cup. Thanks, OBA.

    • Ringmaster says:

      You’re wasting your breath. Never will the PLP give any thanks to the spin off from the America’s Cup. Even if it is $4.7m for this building. The PLP have no clue, no ideas, no plans, no nothing to generate income, just tax residents more. Oh and blame everyone except themselves.

    • Dumddumb says:

      Agreed. That said, this was a successful project by W&E, so credit where credit’s due. Of course, it’s a long way from being finished yet. I wonder if they’ve realised that by cutting one building into two, that they’re going to be two walls short…..

    • Drugs says:

      You obviously have a drug problem as you are hallucinating about what AC achieved which was lining the pockets of the OBA elites.

      Just show us the hundreds of millions you claim AC raised and who exactly it all went to. If you follow the money you will see how many rich white people benefitted vs us blacks. You had to pay to play in AC and none of us blacks could afford it.

      Boat race for OBA ace boys so stop with the BS and that PWC joke of a report showing all income and no expenses. We will be paying for Cross Island for years to come as well as an airport we did not need! Thanks for the bills OBA!

    • sandgrownan says:

      LOL, don’t be naughty, the faithful will be along shortly…

    • Onion Juice says:

      You mean the taxpayers of Bermuda, $77 Million worth.

      • wahoo says:

        And the taxpayers are still waiting for a big thank you from Global Hue, Black Mayors and who ever “found” the “missing” $900m.

      • Anbu says:

        300+ million return dumb dumb. Keep it up muppet.

    • wahoo says:

      Let’s rename it!

  2. Kevin says:

    The sad note is not a word from the minister saying that as a result of the Americas Cup this opportunity has afforded us this …thanks keep on rolling in for the benefits of the AC35 too bad the plp thought it was bad …but when you don’t have foresight you will always be 2 steps behind

  3. Blinded by the stupidity says:

    Damn America Cup. How dare they improve our island for years to come. Thank you OBA. Still waiting on this Government,s announcement for something to replace what was referred to as a Mickey Mouse event. I guess Disney characters living in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

  4. Red rose says:

    Artemis building … er, is that the AC artemis? Lol!
    Was duty paid?

  5. 2 Bermudas says:

    You just can’t make this nonesense up. Where is brother Chris’s Bob Marley quote followed by some narrative about a rich mans sail boat race?!?! Hahaha!!!

  6. WSP says:

    Ironic

  7. Joe Bloggs says:

    Thank you Minister for making the correct decision 2 years ago.

  8. Adklee says:

    Finally, an example of an OBA-PLP partnership….? End result looks good for Bermuda!

  9. Micro says:

    Maybe your star engineers can figure why year old and even weeks old asphalt keeps pocking all over the island.

  10. Mark says:

    So when will it be named after General Major Cornel Burch? Or is it too tucked away for the public to notice?

  11. Philip says:

    Thank you OBA

  12. comfortably numb says:

    So, just over $4,000,000 to put together the Artemis building at the quarry: was no thought given to hiring the people who erected the building and presumably dismantled it at Morgan’s Point? Using Public Works on any project is guaranteed to add months to completion time and many zeros to the finished cost. Burch maths!

  13. Stephen says:

    Really? When are my recyclables going to get picked up?

  14. Baffled beyond belief. says:

    Oh my God, PLP embracing former Americas Cup kit? No way! So, leopards do change their spots then!!

  15. Another Question says:

    Does any quarrying still actually occur at the Govt. quarry or is it just a storage yard set in some prime waterfront real estate? Surely at some point it will be re-located to somewhere where the opportunity cost of the land use is less, such as Southside or Marginal Wharf area. Then we can unlock the potential for the quarry which could be a mixture of tourism, park, residential and commercial.

  16. puzzled says:

    I read the post and I thought it won’t be long before the a&^%$les start talking.

    There is a difference between a quarry and a corral.

    Your all quarried and now corralled and thyme is not on your side.
    Enjoy your final days and leave a tin of sardines in the shed for the children.

  17. Mark says:

    OJ’s silence confirms yet another benefit from AC.

  18. Stephen says:

    Looks like we still have tons of asbestos.