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74 | AUGUST 2018 Servus Arena PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY PCL CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT INC. Servus Arena by LAURIE JONES A s with many Phoenix rising stories, the Red Deer Servus Arena has been given a new life, with modern design and structural elements replac- ing the previous building that was showing its age. "We had a similar arena in a neigh- bouring community that came down due to snow load, and our facility was designed and built by the same com- pany and was the same age as the Red Deer arena," says Barb McKee, recre- ation superintendent, City of Red Deer. "We did an assessment on our facility and realized because of the cost to deal with our structural concerns, it made more sense to start from scratch and build a new arena." McKee says the Servus Arena is multi-use in its design, and a unique factor is the incorporation of it into an existing building on site – the Pidherney Curling Centre. "Now we have the abil- ity to host events that require additional spaces. A perfect example is this August we are hosting the inaugural Hlinka Gretzky Cup, an international hockey scouting tournament." McKee adds the public market is a well-loved community event that was always held at the old arena, and will return next summer at the new arena. One of the significant events coming to the Servus Arena is the 2019 Canada Winter Games. "This arena will be one of the flagship facilities to host hockey, both men's and women's," says McKee. "The building is spectacular and the feedback we have been getting from the general community is very positive. We're really happy with it." Andrew Tankard, partner with GEC Architecture, says the old facil- ity was identified very strongly within the community as their home rink. "The original one was built in the 1950s, then added to and renovated many times. Besides it being seen as the home ice for the city, it does have a number of teams that actually use it as home ice. It was important that its his- tory and identity be incorporated into the new design." Adding to the histori- cal components, Tankard says they took the neon "Arena" sign from the old building and mounted it in the entry lobby of the new Servus Arena. "A photo collage mural along one wall of the concourse tells the story of hockey and other sports in Red Deer's history." Besides the Arena's architectural history, its site is at the south end of Rotary Recreation Park and GEC's design builds on the Park's master plan, reconnecting the Arena to the other park and its recreation buildings as well as to Red Deer's downtown. Tankard says that although the Arena is an event centre, the major focus of the design was to make the best competition and spectator expe- rience possible. With 1,400 seats, the arena is just large enough for a com- plete seating bowl around the entire perimeter of the ice. "Most smaller are- nas have all the seats on one side or the other, or split into two long seating areas, but for spectators, it's a better experience to have seating all the way around. They watch the game from there and the people operating the rink have free run of the lower level." The concourse also has a dual role of being a place for people to go during the cold winter days to exercise, or for training with the athletes. Jeremy Omstead, project manager at PCL Construction Management Inc., says the Arena is home to Red Deer's premier minor hockey league, includ- ing the Red Deer Optimist Chiefs and the Red Deer Vipers Junior B team. "There are four dressing rooms, plus a flex room. The Chiefs have a dedi- cated locker room with a coach's office and a therapy room. This is a spectator arena that hosts sport competition for hockey, ringette, and figure skating as well as opportunities for public skating courtesy of the naming sponsor, Servus Credit Union." The public will also appreciate the design of the building as they attend events. "A corner of the seating bowl has been cut off to allow for a view- ing area from the main floor," he says. "The boards can be removed as well for direct access to the floor level when they have floor events. The arena is fully barrier free with accessibility on both upper and lower sections. There are also two or three balcony sections around the seating bowl for the bar- rier-free viewing." Ian Washbrook, senior associ- ate at Entuitive and Servus Arena's structural project principal, says the original wood-framed structure was replaced with a primarily structural steel building with precast concrete bleacher seating and perimeter walls. "It was a tight budget and an aggres- sive schedule because it had to be open a year before the 2019 Canada Winter games. It was a design-build with PCL for the City of Red Deer, and I think it was the right procurement model." The sloped roof design encompasses long-span steel trusses. "The truss design wasn't the lightest truss system but it had the fewest amount of pieces, which required less fabrication time and cost. It ended up being a very ele- gant looking truss," Washbrook says. The building is housed with a heat recovery ventilator so heat from the exhaust air from all of the hockey change rooms, the washrooms, the janitor rooms, and the storage rooms is cap- tured. "This system is used to preheat the outside air that is brought in to make up that exhaust air," says Jeff Swart, partner, Remedy Engineering. "From an energy efficiency standpoint, it operates at approximately 70 percent efficiency and the system has a pay- back of less than five years. The other air system that works efficiently is the gas- fired desiccant dehumidification system, which is a much more cost-effective way of providing dehumidification in an arena environment rather than a typical refrigeration circuit. Arenas typically experience a bump in humidity when they flood the rink and during high occupancy periods." Smith + Andersen covered the lighting and electrical needs for the Servus Arena, including using occu- pancy sensors and standard zone lighting activation. "In the lobby area, the challenge was to provide lighting on the three-storey-high ceiling that was equivalent to the ground level and maintain even illumination," says Daniel Li, electrical designer and LEED Green Associate. "On the north and east side of the buildings significant glazing has been incorporated to allow for natural light into the space." For the residents of Red Deer, and particularly the hockey community, the Servus Arena is a great example of how a replacement of a treasured commu- nity building can build on its history and also meet today's expectations for sports and civic architecture. A LOCATION 4725-43 Street, Red Deer, Alberta OWNER/OPERATOR The City of Red Deer DESIGN BUILD ARCHITECT/ PRIME CONSULTANT GEC Architecture DESIGN BUILDER PCL Construction Management Inc. STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Entuitive MECHANICAL CONSULTANT Remedy Engineering, Inc. ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Smith + Andersen TOTAL SIZE 68,890 square feet TOTAL COST $21.6 million

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