Gallagher Centre Renewal Project

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Gallagher Centre Building

In 2018 the City of Yorkton began a planning exercise to explore rehabilitation and enhancements to the recreation infrastructure that serves our community, with a focus on the replacement of the Kinsmen Arena.

In October of 2019, Council directed administration to develop a design for a second ice facility that would be attached to the Gallagher Centre and advance to the Pre-Design step of the process. The Pre-Design step moves from a high level conceptual plan to a more detailed design, including specific layouts of spaces and details. The hope was to obtain more accurate costing from a more detailed design.

A community engagement process was implemented to help gain input and provide feedback to Administration and the Consultant team. This included:

  1. Input sessions were conducted with regular users of the Kinsmen Arena.
  2. Virtual input sessions with users to continue with the design process through the pandemic.
  3. Presentations with Council.
  4. A Virtual Open House of the proposed design was placed on YouTube and a digital feedback process was available for one month after the videos were posted.

The direction from Council was “if we are going to do anything we are going to do it right.” This was also echoed in the community engagement process. Following the direction of Council, after listening to the public input, replacing the Kinsmen Arena at the Gallagher Centre created an opportunity to provide further improvements at the Gallagher Centre. The project name was then changed from Kinsmen Replacement to Gallagher Centre Renewal to better reflect the actual project work that was developing.

With the help of our consultant team and the community, the design was completed to 33%. Administration then reported back to Council at their September 14, 2020 Council meeting where Council referred the Gallagher Centre Renewal Project discussions to a future strategic planning session of Council. The purpose of that discussion will be to revisit and clarify the scope of the project and bring options forward to an open Council meeting in 2021 in conjunction with high level budget estimates.

Project Planning Timeline

The following represents the process for community engagement, including Council input and feedback, for the Gallagher Centre renewal project. Numerous other discussions, project team meetings took place but have not been included here.

September 17, 2018
At the September 17, 2018 Council meeting, Council directed Administration to engage aodbt Architecture and Interior Design to review options for replacement of the Kinsmen Arena. A full architectural and engineering review of the Kinsmen Arena was later approved to determine the current state of the facility as well as what would be required to transform the building into an all-season use facility.
March, 2019
In March, 2019 the scope of work was expanded to include identification of indoor recreation infrastructure compared to intended uses. A user feedback process was also completed to determine possible uses for future indoor recreation infrastructure. A data gathering process to predict future costs and revenue requirements was then completed in order to determine required usage to support future infrastructure.
October 21, 2019
Aodbt presented the findings of the Recreation Master Plan at the October 21, 2019 Council meeting where they provided a recommendation to relocate the Kinsmen Arena by adding a second ice surface at the Gallagher Center.  Council then authorized Administration to engage aodbt to:
  1. Continue working on a plan to replace the Kinsmen Arena at the Gallagher Centre, including presenting findings of the study to the June user group participants, and
  2. Conduct a come-and-go public open house to obtain comments on the conceptual plan as presented, and
  3. Proceed with the completion of a schematic design and partial design development to help refine cost estimates for future Council consideration, and
  4. Assist Administration with a public procurement process to hire a contractor for pre-construction services only, in order to assist Administration with oversight of the design and maintaining cost certainty. (It should be noted that this is not a request to proceed to construction, but rather a request to hire an advisor to ensure a complete design that results in minimal change orders in the event Council provides future approval to proceed with construction. There will be further reports back to Council before Council is asked to consider approval to proceed with construction)
November 27, 2019
On November 27, 2019 the project team, presented to the public at an Open House, a conceptual plan for a second ice surface at the Gallagher Center. This evening session allowed the community to provide initial feedback on the concept and the project team set into more detailed planning.
  1. Direction from community stakeholders was that there needs to be some benefit to the community in the co-location of arenas, or else why replace the Kinsmen at all.
    1. 12 Change rooms, all in a single corridor for ease of wayfinding and to share between both ice surfaces
    2. Ease of facility usage
    3. Leisure Ice
    4. Viewing Areas
    5. Farrell Agencies Arena enhancements
January 8, 2020
Pre-construction service interviews were conducted by the Project team.
January 14, 2020
PCL Construction retained on January 14, 2020 as an advisory to the Project team.
January 28, 2020
On January 28, 2020 the first full project team meeting was held, including
  1. Meeting with the Planning, Building and Development Department to identify potential site requirements.
  2. General building systems discussion and direction – build it right to prevent ongoing maintenance issues in the long run.
    1. Future planning for summer ice usage – dehumidification system
    2. New ice plant in a location away from the public
March 4, 2020
The second project meeting was held on March 4, 2020.  During this meeting, a conceptual plan was provided to user groups for comment.  Meetings included:
  1. Yorkton Minor Hockey
  2. Recreational Hockey
  3. Yorkton AAA Midget Maulers
  4. Yorkton Terriers
  5. Officials
  6. Figure Skating Club was invited, but could not attend

 

Part of this session included a walk-through of the new dressing room, created in the Flexi-hall with masking tape on the floor.  Adjustments were requested by the group, asking for the rooms to be more squared.
 March 26, 2020
A third project meeting was slated for late March, which was to be more public in nature.  However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the team to reassess the project and how it would be released to the community. Virtual Project meetings were co-ordinated using the platform Zoom, a video conferencing application for computers and portable devices.
May 11, 2020
Administration, along with the consultant team consisting of Mitch Strocen from aodbt Architecture and Interior Design and Darren Mountenay from PCL Construction, presented their design to date and invited feedback and direction from Yorkton City Council. Direction was given to continue with the design and engagement process as originally planned to ensure the final design will meet the community’s needs.
June 3, 2020
A virtual re-engagement session was held with the user groups that participated in the initial user group input sessions. The purpose of the meeting was to review more detailed concepts that resulted from the previous user group input sessions.
June 8 through July 3, 2020
A virtual Open House was developed by the consultant team which consisted of 5 videos. Four of the videos walked people through the proposed design of the various components of the proposed development. The 5th video provided a representation on what the construction timeline could look like through a 4D modelling video that showed how the work would be completed.

The videos were placed on the City’s YouTube channel with promotion completed on the City’s social media platforms along with traditional paper promotions to encourage people to view the videos and provide feedback to a feedback email address. Further, A Q&A was developed from the feedback and placed on the City’s website through the entire virtual Open House timeline.
June 19, 2020
A virtual input session was held with Gallagher Centre and Kinsmen Arena staff to receive input and feedback on the design to date.
August 24, 2020
The final 33% design was presented to Yorkton City Council for feedback and input with direction given to Administration to bring the final 33% design and estimated cost to the open portion of the September 14, 2020 Council meeting.
September 14, 2020

The final 33% design and estimated cost is presented to City Council to provide further direction on the project. The estimated cost was $22,000,000. Council referred the Gallagher Centre Renewal Project discussions to a future strategic planning session of Council. The purpose of that discussion will be to revisit and clarify the scope of the project and bring options forward to an open Council meeting in 2021 in conjunction with high level budget estimates.
April 19, 2021

Mitch Strocen of aodbt architecture + interior design attended a Council Committee of the Whole meeting to inform discussions considering the Gallagher Centre Renewal Project. Before proceeding with a decision for the Gallagher Centre Renewal Project, Council was interested in receiving more information about what it would take to have the Kinsmen Arena continue to operate as an ice arena for an additional 15 years. A review of the existing ice making equipment and systems was required to inform that discussion. This was not previously completed as the decision to relocate the community’s second ice surface to the Gallagher Centre was based on the age and condition of the entire facility.

April 26, 2021

Council formally passed a motion to proceed to get more detailed assessment and costing on repairing the mechanical/building systems for the Kinsmen Arena. The intent was to obtain a consultant opinion of the condition and cost estimates to ensure that the ice plant and related mechanical/building systems could support ice for the next 15 years. Council approved a budget of $50,000 for Administration to hire specialized consultants to provide this info back to Council. 

 

At this juncture, Council decided to proceed with specific upgrades at both arenas. Information on the Kinsmen Arena Ice Systems Upgrade Project and the Westland Arena Ice Plant Upgrades can be found at shapeyourcity.yorkton.ca.