Curling in St. Albert is good to go Nov. 15.
That’s when the renovations to the front facade of the St. Albert Curling Club will be completed, according to the chair of the building committee, Don Johnston.
“You can start to see the finish line now,” Johnston told the Gazette during Monday’s tour of the TachĂ© Street rink.
More than 60 per cent of the work is completed.
“It will go real quick now,” Johnston said. “Basically what we’ve got done is all the concrete work, all the structural steel and the roof. The next phase is the exterior framing and the exterior finishes and then the interior finishes progress from there.”
Club president Doug McLennan said the upcoming curling season will go longer into spring to make up for the late start. Last winter curling started early (Sept. 17) and ended earlier (March 6) than in previous years to accommodate construction plans.
“People have been driving by and of course all they see is this shell. They can see straight into here, so there is a certain amount apprehension out there I guess if we are going to be playing this year and the answer is simply yes. We’re playing this year. November 15 is the date we’ve been given by our construction contractor and Don backs that up,” McLennan said.
The front end was expanded to 14,264 sq. ft. over two floors.
“This building is pretty much wide open,” McLennan said. “The concrete floors up and down are done. It won’t take much to put the steel studs in because there isn’t that many of them and then the sheathing goes on real fast. The elevator shaft is in place and all you have to do is put the elevator in it. A bunch of the trades can be working at the same time so this isn’t insurmountable.”
The projected $2.4-million facelift was slow to get off the ground and Johnston said 90 per cent of the delay was the soil and weather.
“We’re kind of in the state where it’s in control now. It’s out of the conditions of the weather working against us,” he said. “We just had a rainy, rainy season and that combination with this soil, which is very acceptable to kind of mucking up with the rain, caused the delays.”
McLennan expects everything will now go according to plan.
“There are no surprises anymore because all the surprises are usually under the ground, and as soon as you start getting it up then you’re good,” he said. “We understood the soil in this area wasn’t that good. I’m not saying that we were surprised, we were somewhat humbled by the amount it would take to correct that problem. It was a lot more complex than we originally thought.”
The top floor was altered to seat 250 people, more than double the capacity in the Hec Gervais Lounge in the original structure.
Curling fans will not miss a shot watching the action through pillar-free windows from beam to floor.
“We wanted an area upstairs that was big enough to be able to host offseason functions like weddings, charity events and business meetings without any columns and in order to do that we needed to beef up the foundation pads to support the load,” McLennan said. “There is going to be some interesting stairs on the outside of the building as well as ramps for handicap access.”
The main floor upgrades will include a new kitchen, cafeteria, change rooms and washrooms. A storage area tucked away on the main floor was also incorporated into the design.
“We really didn’t have any space to go overboard with, but what we did want to do was make sure we had enough room for the community part,” said McLennan.
He is excited about the amenities the multi-use facility will offer the public.
“This building is really not completely designed with curling only in mind. This is here for the community. We don’t own it. We’re helping the city put a building together. It’s really going to serve a number of users in my opinion and it’s going to serve them well.”
A major overhaul to the six-sheet arena that opened in December 1959 was a renovation to the back end in 1997. A concrete floor was installed in 2005 and a new ice plant was put in 2008.
“We have state-of-the-art equipment back here now. The only real piece of this puzzle missing was to do the front,” McLennan said. “We’re obviously really proud of what it’s going to look like when everything is completed.”
Stepping forward financially was the City of St. Albert and the province with a commitment of about $1.6 million to the renovations. The club was also presented with a $821,884 federal grant from Edmonton-St. Albert member of Parliament Brent Rathgeber through the Recreational Infrastructure Canada program, a $500-millon program as part of the federal economic stimulus plan to renovate parks, arenas and rinks.
“Investing in the community is the right thing to do,” McLennan said. “We’re grateful for all the assistance, and we can’t say enough how much the city has helped us out with this project.”
The grand opening ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place on the eve of the 2011 World Financial Group Continental Cup of Curling, Jan. 13 to 16 at Servus Credit Union Place. It will also coincide with plans by the club and the city to honour Olympic gold medallist Marc Kennedy, who started his illustrious curling career in St. Albert.
The seventh annual Continental Cup is billed as the Ryder Cup of curling, featuring 12 of the best rinks in the world. It will also signal the start of the City of St. Albert’s 150th birthday celebrations. The city’s birthday committee will use the club to stage a curling-themed play that will run in conjunction with the Continental Cup.
“It would be a great timing to have the official opening leading up to the Continental Cup,” McLennan said. “We would like to treat it as sort of a past and present kind of thing, but obviously the future is looking pretty good too.”
