Civic Centre re-opening pushed back due to construction delays
By The Nelson Daily Staff
Ice groups are going to wait a little longer to start the season in the Civic Centre Arena after the City of Nelson announced Wednesday delays associated with the construction upgrade work of the decade-old facility.
In the media release, the City of Nelson said the scheduled opening date has been pushed back due to the ongoing emergency roof repairs in the Civic Centre and associated seismic work in the Civic Arena, with the new opening date of mid-December for the Arena assuming work from this point forward goes according to plan.
“The City of Nelson recognizes the impact this project has on the organizations that rely on the Civic Centre and Arena to provide programming for the community,” said Mayor Janice Morrison in the media release.
“The City is working hard to get all user groups back into their spaces, but public and worker safety remain our number one priority. We will be communicating closely with the Regional District of Central Kootenay (RDCK) as we progress to ensure ice user groups are notified when the building will be available.”
Results from a structural assessment conducted in late 2023 on the circa 1935 building identified the need to repair certain components of the Civic Centre roof structure and re-enforce walls, to meet building code snow load and seismic requirements.
The City said much of the seismic work required is within the Civic Arena — the Civic Centre and Arena share a common wall that converts to pillars and beams in the Arena that are being re-enforced to create a continuous wall.
This work began in June of this year and is expected to be complete by January of 2025.
The City said a structural assessment was subsequently completed on the Civic Arena in 2024 and also identified the need to increase the strength of the existing structure to meet snow loads.
The City is currently working on options for this work to be completed, however, the City will be employing a similar snow-monitoring program for the Arena as was used on the Civic Centre last winter. This may result in additional closures once the facility has been reopened.
“As an organization that also takes on large scale projects, we understand that these types of unforeseen delays can occur,” said Joe Chirico, RDCK General Manager of Community Services.
“RDCK staff will do everything we can to help mitigate the impact that this delay will have on ice user groups. We will be working closely with the user groups affected to support the rescheduling of ice time until the Civic Arena is operational.”
The Civic Centre and Arena is owned and maintained by the City of Nelson with the Arena being operated and scheduled by the RDCK.
RDCK staff will be connecting with ice user groups to discuss how this delay will affect their ice times this fall.
