The Ontario Construction Report – March 2011 – PAGE OCR D1


Cornwall to unveil $32.5 million Multi-Sport Facility in spring Benson Centre aims to score LEED-certified status


ADAM BRAZEAU – The OCR Construction Report Special Feature


Cornwall’s $32.5 million community sports complex already boasts an impres- sive scorecard.


The LEED-candidate project is now a catalyst for future design and construction in the City of Cornwall.


“It stands out in terms of scale, being the first City project designed to LEED stan- dards,” said Stephen Alexander, Cornwall’s general manager of planning, parks, recre- ation services. “The Benson Centre is the biggest construction project undertaken (by the City) in many years.”


The multi-sport facility features three NHL-sized ice rinks. One rink seats 500, while the other two are 250 each, including accessible viewing positions within the rink arenas. It also has one indoor soccer field


One of three NHL-size ice pads - Cornwall Multi-Sport facility - Benson Centre


Brian Duffield - construction manager for BBA


house (100 x 200) with seating capacity for 300, and an indoor tennis court. Meeting a ‘Silver’ rating on LEED’s (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System is one of the project’s main goals. Energy ef- ficiency measures such as heat exchange cooling from snow melt pits, heat recovery from ice production, micro turbines and ge- othermal energy were all encouraged in the design process. The project has aimed for a minimum of three credits towards the LEED accreditation for energy conserva- tion.


Municipal officials and contractors orig- inally thought they had a March 2011 dead-


Congratulations to the whole team.


We are proud of our association with Pomerleau on this significant project.


St. Lawrence Testing & Inspection Co. Ltd.


P.O. Box 997, 814 Second Street W., Cornwall, Ont. Canada K6H 5V1


Phone: (613) 938-2521 Fax: (613) 938-7395


line to receive $18.4 in federal and provin- cial funding under the Build Canada Fund Communities Component. The deadline has now been extended, as for other infra- structure projects, through another con- struction season.


The initial timeline of March 2011 forced the City to start design work and begin construction through the winter of 2009/10.


“The (original) deadlines were chal- lenging, but we are well on our way to meeting the original,” said Alexander. “The recent extension given to projects will give us just a little more time to finish some of the exterior site works that are difficult in the early spring season.”


The facility is scheduled to begin pro-


gramming and activities this May. The City will start finalizing exterior work at the end of March and all three rinks will be operat- ing with ice in September.


Alexander said from an architectural standpoint the City’s objective is creating a design that functions well as a multi-sport facility, while maintaining inviting features and energy efficient components. “The infrastructure is very important. The facility replaces two aging arena facil- ities that were very challenging to maintain, did not provide contemporary facilities or good accessibility, and are not meeting the needs of current users and expected future needs,” said Alexander. “In addition, it also replaces the soccer bubble which is reach- ing the end of its life expectancy.”


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36