According to John Milton, chief administrative officer for the Ontario Recreation Facilities Association, Ontario, Canada, has approximately 1,000 ice pads, with 750 of them in arenas.
The city of Niagara Falls recently added four more NHL-size pads in a new showcase arena, known as the
Gale Centre, that attracts 7,000 to 8,000 skaters during a typical 60 hours of operation weekly. The $38 million facility with paved parking area for 980 vehicles was built on the 16 acres donated within a brownfield site once occupied by a chemical plant that ceased operations in 1992. The arena opened in June 2010 following a 23-month construction schedule that began in September 2008.
Steve Hamilton, the city’s recreational director, praised the new community asset for already drawing heavy use while city planners envision it as the cornerstone for future redevelopment initiatives on the remaining 93 acres of property that were cleared of the former plant complex. The location in the center of the city made it the preferred site among 25 alternative locations considered for the project funded by municipal bonds. Exhaustive environmental studies-including 42,000 soil and groundwater tests-assured the public that the strategic property presented the best candidate among the other city-owned and private-sector candidates evaluated for the project.
“The project was clearly driven by the user demand for added ice surfaces here,” Hamilton said. “A study in 2004 by Leisure Plan International, a Toronto-based consulting firm, concluded that a community of our size easily justified two additional pads of ice. The findings, coupled with the need to retire two older municipal ice facilities that had a total of three pads led us to commit to a four-pad, state-of-the-art arena.”
Niagara Falls-based UEM Consulting was hired as the project management consultant, and Barry Bryan Associates Ltd., Whitby, Ontario, was the design architect, engineer and landscape designer. Aquicon Construction Co. Ltd., Brampton, Ontario, was the general contractor, and KMA Contracting Inc., Guelph, Ontario, was the Butler Builder for the custom-engineered metal building
portions that house the ice pads.
The rinks flank either side of the adjoining, two-level concourse and entrance framed with conventional structural steel. By consolidating pads under one roof-two on each side of the concourse-the 204,000-square-foot Gale Centre should operate at significantly lower costs and generate more self-sustaining cash flow. This will ultimately eliminate the large subsidy needed in the past to maintain and operate the predecessors it replaced.
The complex subdivides into a main, NHL-size rink whose seating for 2,000 spectators should make it an excellent tournament venue. Additionally, the facility has three community NHL-size rinks, each with seating for 250 spectators; a community room with a “Sports Wall of Fame” depicting the legacy of local skating since the 1800s; a pro-shop; skate sharpening facility; food service concessions and offices. As the access spine for the facility, the concourse has become a hub for socializing and an immensely popular space where people congregate out of the weather.
The contemporary design by BBA applied two Widespan structures with gently arched MR-24 standing-seam metal roof systems from Kansas City, Mo.-based Butler Manufacturing. All of the steel was epoxy-coated for corrosion protection. The rooflines have a 1,330-foot radius toward the back of the complex for positive drainage. The walls are a combination of extensive glazing, insulated metal panels, masonry block and precast concrete units. Dave Schram, the UEM project manager, emphasized that the long-term weathertightness of the roof was a primary consideration why the MR-24 roof was selected. Additionally, the city wanted a cost-effective facility both to build and to operate in the future and they got it with the Butler metal building systems, Schram said. “The MR-24 roof system has a successful record on similar projects and is known for longevity. A metal building systems solution also was the most economical method to achieve the clear spans required over the pads and erected faster. These and a number of other factors favored the Butler systems.”
Both the walls and roof, which features a white cool roof coating, were insulated to R-19 using a combination of pre-insulated metal panels and precast concrete panels. Although the project was not registered and formally certified with the Canadian Green Building Council, many elements were inspired by LEED criteria, including the old foundations of the former plant structures that were pulverized on site to become recycled fill needed to elevate the building pad 9 feet above grade. Therefore, the pad required only 25 percent imported fill. There are high-efficiency heat pumps applied to space heating and controlled as zones by an energy management system. An underground circulating glycol ice and snow melting system for the sidewalks and front of the building benefit from heat recovered off the rink refrigeration system. The extensive use of glass around the perimeter admits natural daylighting supplemented by energy-efficient metal halide lighting above the skating rinks.
Hamilton said this quality facility has become known among skating groups as far as Detroit. While the facility will be available for a limited number of tournaments sponsored for groups beyond the immediate area, the facility’s priority users will remain the 82,000 residents of the community.
