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While 24 Sussex Drive continues to soak up money for repairs and maintenance, taxpayers have got a relative bargain by turning Rideau Cottage into a replacement home for the Trudeau family.
The two-storey brick home on the grounds of Rideau Hall was already a lovely place to stay before the Trudeaus moved in following the 2015 election.
It has four bedrooms and six bathrooms, and covers about 9,687 square feet, with 22 rooms in all.
But to make it a full-time home for a prime minister could have triggered expensive renovation work.
It didn’t, however. There was no reno at all, and documents from the National Capital Commission, released through access to information, show an overall thriftiness that freshened up the old house but didn’t break the bank.
Total fix-up and maintenance cost in the first full year of the Trudeaus’ stay: $41,895, not including heat and hydro.
The only big bill was for painting: $16,395. Other than that, there were much smaller expenses, some for security and others for upkeep you would expect in a 150-year-old house.
Maintenance on the heating system cost $2,335; repairing a water leak cost $585; cleaning the carpets, furniture and drapes cost $1,400; and washing windows added $1,200.
Repairs to some windows added $7,680. It cost $4,000 to have the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires provide security in one part of the building for a period of several weeks.
And installing new appliances? A mere $3,240. (By contrast, the U.S. Air Force recently revealed it cancelled a plan to spend $24 million on two new refrigerators for Air Force One, the presidential jet. Boeing wanted to custom design and flight-test the new fridges.)
Somehow, Rideau Cottage has been running more cheaply than 24 Sussex. Documents released by the NCC show the maintenance bills there reached $171,000 for a five-month period after Justin Trudeau was elected prime minister. That does not include major renovation work.
And nowhere is the contrast bigger than in energy costs. It’s not really a fair comparison because 24 Sussex is a much bigger building (with 34 rooms and a third floor), but the numbers are still impressive.
For the 2016-2017 fiscal year, 24 Sussex paid $88,996 in hydro bills, and Rideau Cottage cost $20,157.
The gas bills were $12,061 at 24 Sussex and $6,035 at Rideau Cottage.
A side note: Both buildings were built in 1867-68. The cottage is in better condition, as the walls at 24 Sussex are in “poor to fair” shape, and crumbling is a risk.
Meanwhile, more documents released through an access request reinforce the case for moving ahead a major renovation of 24 Sussex.
“The property has deteriorated significantly in recent years,” the NCC’s consultants write in a report dated August 2016.
The evaluation comes from Turner and Townsend, a multinational professional services company with offices in Canada.
“The basic building systems are at the end of their life cycle and require replacement” — which includes the windows, heating, ventilation, electrical and plumbing systems. There are also no sprinklers.
The dining room is too small for proper entertaining, and it is hard to reach from the kitchen.
The report notes there will be a “cost premium” in restoring a building with heritage status, and other extra costs such as security screening for all the workers. Even the suppliers of materials will need security checks.
Installing geothermal heating and solar preheating will add significant costs, it says. So will making the structure more earthquake-resistant.
And the kitchen is a separate issue. Too small, poorly ventilated and without a fire suppression system, it will require “extensive works.”
tspears@postmedia.com
twitter.com/TomSpears1
查看原文...
The two-storey brick home on the grounds of Rideau Hall was already a lovely place to stay before the Trudeaus moved in following the 2015 election.
It has four bedrooms and six bathrooms, and covers about 9,687 square feet, with 22 rooms in all.
But to make it a full-time home for a prime minister could have triggered expensive renovation work.
It didn’t, however. There was no reno at all, and documents from the National Capital Commission, released through access to information, show an overall thriftiness that freshened up the old house but didn’t break the bank.
Total fix-up and maintenance cost in the first full year of the Trudeaus’ stay: $41,895, not including heat and hydro.
The only big bill was for painting: $16,395. Other than that, there were much smaller expenses, some for security and others for upkeep you would expect in a 150-year-old house.
Maintenance on the heating system cost $2,335; repairing a water leak cost $585; cleaning the carpets, furniture and drapes cost $1,400; and washing windows added $1,200.
Repairs to some windows added $7,680. It cost $4,000 to have the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires provide security in one part of the building for a period of several weeks.
And installing new appliances? A mere $3,240. (By contrast, the U.S. Air Force recently revealed it cancelled a plan to spend $24 million on two new refrigerators for Air Force One, the presidential jet. Boeing wanted to custom design and flight-test the new fridges.)
Somehow, Rideau Cottage has been running more cheaply than 24 Sussex. Documents released by the NCC show the maintenance bills there reached $171,000 for a five-month period after Justin Trudeau was elected prime minister. That does not include major renovation work.
And nowhere is the contrast bigger than in energy costs. It’s not really a fair comparison because 24 Sussex is a much bigger building (with 34 rooms and a third floor), but the numbers are still impressive.
For the 2016-2017 fiscal year, 24 Sussex paid $88,996 in hydro bills, and Rideau Cottage cost $20,157.
The gas bills were $12,061 at 24 Sussex and $6,035 at Rideau Cottage.
A side note: Both buildings were built in 1867-68. The cottage is in better condition, as the walls at 24 Sussex are in “poor to fair” shape, and crumbling is a risk.
Meanwhile, more documents released through an access request reinforce the case for moving ahead a major renovation of 24 Sussex.
“The property has deteriorated significantly in recent years,” the NCC’s consultants write in a report dated August 2016.
The evaluation comes from Turner and Townsend, a multinational professional services company with offices in Canada.
“The basic building systems are at the end of their life cycle and require replacement” — which includes the windows, heating, ventilation, electrical and plumbing systems. There are also no sprinklers.
The dining room is too small for proper entertaining, and it is hard to reach from the kitchen.
The report notes there will be a “cost premium” in restoring a building with heritage status, and other extra costs such as security screening for all the workers. Even the suppliers of materials will need security checks.
Installing geothermal heating and solar preheating will add significant costs, it says. So will making the structure more earthquake-resistant.
And the kitchen is a separate issue. Too small, poorly ventilated and without a fire suppression system, it will require “extensive works.”
tspears@postmedia.com
twitter.com/TomSpears1
查看原文...
