Costs Force Aquarium Design Cuts : Building: High bids will delay construction of the new Scripps Institution of Oceanography facility. But officials say cuts will not reduce the building’s size or programs to be offered.

Building the new aquarium at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography will be more expensive than planned, forcing some last-minute design changes and a delay in construction of the $11-million project, university officials said Thursday.

Don Wilkie, director of the aquarium, said the necessary design changes will not reduce the size of the Stephen Birch Aquarium-Museum or compromise its scope.

“The public won’t notice the changes when we’re through,” he said. “The important thing for the visitor isn’t the building itself but the exhibits and programs you put on. Those are the things we’re going to make sure remain intact.”

After soliciting bids last month, officials learned that the lowest bid for the aquarium building itself was $7.4 million--more than $1.1 million over the $6.3-million estimate given by the architect, Wheeler, Wimer and Blackman & Associates of San Diego, Wilkie said.

The rest of the $11-million price tag consists of a 250-space parking lot next to the facility as well as landscaping, cost of the exhibits and $700,000 in architect fees, soil tests and permits, officials said.

“All of the eight bids were at least $1.1 million over what we had budgeted,” Wilkie said. “So we didn’t accept any of them. We’re starting all over again.”

Officials hope to reopen bidding as early as next week so that construction might start in April. Completion of the project, scheduled for the summer of 1991, will probably be pushed back at least six months to the end of that year, Wilkie said.

Word of the delays brought sighs from university officials.

“Sure, we’re surprised and disappointed,” said Tom Collins, associate director for administration at Scripps. “But I’ve been involved with the planning of projects like these for too long.

“There’s so many factors involved, and we went to extraordinary lengths to feel comfortable with the estimates. It’s hard to hold it against anybody, including the architects.”

Scripps Institution has raised more than $9 million in private funds for the project, including a $6-million donation from the Delaware-based Stephen and Mary Birch Foundation.

Officials have emphasized that no public funds will be used for the aquarium-museum, which will feature 34,600 feet of display area--nearly triple that of the existing 40-year-old Scripps Aquarium--and include classrooms, offices and a bookstore.

The new facility, which will be located on a wooded knoll above the Scripps Pier on the east side of La Jolla Shores Drive, will also feature an outdoor tide pool and 40 viewing tanks.

That includes a 70,000-gallon tank, with a 12-by-20-foot viewing window, that will replicate a kelp forest environment.

The need for a new aquarium and parking became apparent in recent years, officials said, as the aging Scripps Aquarium struggled to meet increased public demand.

The existing aquarium accommodates 370,000 visitors annually, with a distant parking lot and nine nearby public parking places.

Neither the exhibits nor the new parking lot will feel the budget-cutting knife, officials said.

Planned cost-saving measures include reducing the scale of ornate glass and metal work in the windows and doors, a move officials say could save at least $500,000.

“It’s very attractive but some of it is one-of-a-kind, so there was no competitive bidding,” Wilkie said. “As a result, it was very expensive.”

Officials will also seek a second contractor to build the parking lot to save money. They are also doing away with a high-tech ozone life-support system to stave off diseases in some fish and will rely instead on the cheaper method of introducing chemicals into the water.

Aquarium planners will use other minor design changes to cut projected costs by at least $800,000, Wilkie said. “By scaling down some decorative items, our goal is to save the exhibits and educational programs as planned,” he said.

Officials are also looking for more public donations to offset the added costs. “It would be nice if a fairy godmother came along and took care of our money woes,” he said.