Rosthern’s Jubilee Sports Centre is slated to open in late January or early February.
A $1.48 million renovation project that began at the end of August, 2021, is now almost complete, according to Rosthern Mayor Dennis Helmuth.
“The good news is the facility will be better than ever,” said Helmuth in an interview January 19. “The interior work is just being wrapped up now and the exterior metal work will begin in March.
“We’re hoping to have it open by the end of January for a shortened season. We’ve been without ice for several months now and it’s been hard on the community, particularly the user groups.”
The project, funded jointly by the municipal, provincial and federal governments through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, involves demolition and replacement of the arena floor, replacement of arena boards and exhaust fans, and rehabilitation and replacement of the skating rink roof system.
The federal government’s share of the $1.48 million project is $593,170, while the province is covering $494,259 and the town is contributing $395,496. The project was split into two components, with the arena floor replacement done first and the skating rink roof replacement scheduled for the spring of 2022.
The project has forced user groups, including minor hockey and figuring skating clubs, to rent ice in other communities. The Rosthern Wheat Kings senior hockey team has played home games in Wakaw and Beardy’s & Okemasis Cree Nation rinks.
Helmuth said while the temporary closure of the arena has created some short-term pain, the renovations will provide the community with the capacity to provide “year-round ice at the flick of a switch.”
He said the contractor had difficulty sourcing materials for the project, which backed up the overall time line for completion. It was originally hoped the updates could be done by last fall to allow the rink to be open for a full season.
“It was a bit frustrating, but a shortened season is better than none at all,” said Helmuth. “The bottom line is that the approval of the project and funding from senior levels of government provided us with an excellent opportunity to make necessary upgrades.”
Helmuth said while there weren’t any serious problems yet, engineers had determined the cement pad that serves as the arena floor was shifting,.
“It was probably inevitable that we would have had to replace it in the near future,” said Helmuth. “Had we not done the upgrades now, we would have likely seen alignment problems and possible leaks. It was becoming a maintenance issue and would have shown up at some point.”
Helmuth said the plan is to have ice put in at the skating rink as soon as possible.
“The boys are going to be putting in ice around the clock for several days by January 31,” said Helmuth. “By early February we should have ice in and activities starting up again.”
The curling rink adjacent to the skating rink has not been affected by the project.
In addition to the major structural upgrade at the skating rink, the Town of Rosthern is proceeding with a smaller project aimed at reducing the amount of energy used by the facility.
“We received a $25,000 federal grant to do an energy audit on the arena,” said Helmuth. “The energy audit is being conducted by Greenwave Energy. The town will be contributing about $6,000 toward the project. In the long run, the audit will determine ways to save energy and that will save taxpayers some money.”
A similar energy audit by Greenwave, and subsequent installation of LED lighting as a retrofit at the Legends Centre in Warman last fall, resulted in a savings of $34,000 a year in electricity costs for that municipally-owned facility.