Two months of construction and a number of years in limbo, the arena roof project at the Nakusp & District Sports Complex is complete.
The roof over the hockey arena has been in need of replacing for quite some time, but only recently has the Village of Nakusp been able to get the funds together to make this replacement happen.
“The project was $584,000, and the only reason the village was able to proceed was because of the Columbia Basin Trust Recreation Infrastructure Grants coming out, and a key component was the NACFOR Legacy Fund,” said Terry Welsh, director of recreation and parks for the village. “There were previous estimates in the neighbourhood of possibly one million dollars.”
One of the problems facing the roof was that it leaked. Another issue discovered during construction was the roof structure no longer met building code requirements in terms of snow load — how many pounds of snow per square foot the roof could handle.
Many adjustments also had to be made during the project to make sure the construction methods used added as little amount of weight to the roof. These adjustments drove what was chosen in terms of roofing membrane selected, and the method used to put it on the roof.
When creating the budget for the roof, Welsh made sure to have a large contingency fund in place, in case something didn’t go to plan.
“I’ve had a lot of experience with roofing projects, and they never seem to go the way you want them to go,” he said. “One of the things we discovered, which we couldn’t discover until we started taking things apart, was that the existing canopy definitely didn’t meet the existing structural snow loads.”
The work crew knew the canopy that extended outside the arena doors needed to be improved, but there was also a section outside of the arena lobby, and it was only when they started opening it up that they realized that area had to be improved as well.
Welsh is pleased the project came in about $20,000 under budget. He said that money will be used to replace tile in front of, and inside the lobby.
Though there hasn’t been much reaction to the new roof yet, Welsh anticipates reactions to be satisfactory.
“I think everybody who used the facility was aware of all the leaking that occurred in the lobby and to a degree, the arena portion as well,” he said. “That’s been rectified, so the reaction will be positive.”