FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — BC Hydro announced this morning that it has awarded the contract for the Site C dam’s generating station and spillways civil works, along with two other project contracts.

BC Hydro signed the generating station and spillways civil works contract with the Aecon-Flatiron-Dragados-EBC Partnership. The contract is valued at $1.6 billion and falls within the project’s revised budget of $10.7 billion.

The contract for Site C’s generating station and spillways is the second-largest of the project’s contracts. As part of the contract, Hydro says the AFDE Partnership will build the civil works associated with the powerhouse, penstocks, spillways and power intakes.

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This portion of the contract will be responsible for the placement of approximately 700,000 cubic metres of reinforced concrete, and 34,000 tonnes of rebar. The Partnership has signed a project labour agreement that includes unions from the BC Building Trades. Hydro says the agreement will prioritize hiring local and Indigenous workers, with a goal of having up to 25 percent of the GSS workforce being made up of apprentices.

According to BC Hydro, the contractor will mobilize to the site this spring, with the work taking place over a five-year period. The Crown Corporation estimates there will be approximately 1,600 people working on this portion of the project at the peak of construction in 2021.

In addition to the generating station and spillways civil works contract, BC Hydro has awarded two other Site C contracts. Nanaimo-based F&M Installations Ltd. was awarded the $33-million contract to build the Site C substation, while REEL COH Inc. was awarded the contract to design, build and commission the dam’s powerhouse bridge and gantry cranes for $23 million.