Budget | Rising steel prices may force design changes

A1

By HEATHER MCLAUGHLIN
mclaughlin.heather@dailygleaner.com

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

5 Comment(s)

Ottawa-based Centre Line Architects will be in Fredericton today to meet with city hall staff - and they'll have to come with pencils sharpened.

The designers of the proposed arena, named for local hockey star Danny Grant, have to come up with a concept for the southside sports and leisure complex that will stick to the original $20.6-million budget.

That budget, however, was struck nearly five years ago before the staggering hike in petroleum prices, which has escalated the cost of all steel-based construction products, from nails to beams.

"We're going to take a look at the site today. Everything has been cleared and grubbed," said community services director Wayne Tallon.

"We have been directed to remain within the original $20.6-million budget. That's going to be a little tough."

Tallon said he hopes the lessons learned from building Willie O'Ree Place, the city's first new rink in four decades, will come in handy.

The architects have been asked to look at alternatives to structural steel, including wood trusses and beams.

Four years ago, there was a 40 per cent premium to use wood rather than steel in building an arena, Tallon said, but that's no longer the case.

Other rumoured options for scaling back the rink include cutting back on the original plan to make it a 2,500-seat centre.

Centre Line has also had to adapt to a change of location. The Ottawa-based firm, which designed the Corel Centre and came up with the concept for Willie O'Ree Place on Cliffe Street, was originally told to design a dual-pad ice rink at Doak Road on a hilly lot owned by the city.

But in 2006, Mayor Brad Woodside and University of New Brunswick president Dr. John McLaughlin hammered out a deal to relocate the southside sports centre to Kimble Drive and Alison Boulevard under a $1 per year, 99-year lease with UNB.

That, coupled with the need for soil and topographical studies on the new site, plus environmental checks, has pushed back the construction start on the rink. Fredericton city councillors also bowed to lobbying from sports interest groups who argued that now is the time to build an Olympic-sized ice surface, plus an NHL-sized rink.