March 4, 2015
Canadian Winter Games Kin Centre Enhancement
"The City of Prince George (British Columbia) needed to upgrade the existing 3 rink Kin Centre Complex in order to host the 2015 Canada Winter Games. The old Kin 1 Arena built in the 70’s was demolished and replaced with a new 700 seat arena in a phased construction process. Total project value was $16.5 million (11,6 million EURO).
The existing KIN 2 & 3 arenas, the New Kin 1 Arena along with the existing 6,000 seat CN Centre will host Men’s & Women’s Hockey,
Ringette, Short Track Speed Skating and figure skating. The existing Outdoor Skating Oval next to the Kin Centre will host Long Track Speed Skating.
The new Kin 1 arena will be the City’s show piece for the 2015 Canada Winter Games. To meet the games requirements the new Kin 1 arena will have Olympic size ice so that it can host short track speed skating. The Olympic ice can be converted back to NHL size after the games and have the flexibility to convert between the two sizes whenever needed. Games requirements also ecessitated adding 400 seats to Kin 2 along with 5 new larger dressing rooms.
A mezzanine lounge provides views into two of the arenas and connects to the Atrium Lobby that also serves the CN Centre. A second entrance lobby on the north serves as the community entrance. The facility has office space for minor hockey, a pro-shop and a dividable meeting room.
Disabled Accessibility was an important design element and the building has been designed to exceed building code requirements for accessibility. An elevator connects all levels and all public corridors have automatic door openers. Every area of the facility is accessible with wider doors and space for wheelchair turning. In addition, door and frame colours were selected to be different from wall colours to assist the visually impaired.
Two pairs of dressing rooms in each rink have permanent accessories for disabled although all dressing room washrooms and showers are sized for wheelchairs and have a wide bench that is used to dress disabled athletes. With the simple addition of grab bars to any washroom/ shower all dressing rooms can be fully accessible.
Sledge hockey can be accommodated in either Olympic or NHL configuration and the ice rink requires minimal set-up time to be used for sledge hockey. The board system contains permanent clear panels in the front of all penalty and player benches and wide gates. Floors and benches are easily removable. The surface under the removable floors is finished with permanent synthetic ice panels.
Sustainable design was an another important aspect of design. Materials such as concrete block, glass and metal cladding were used on the exterior to minimize maintenance. Likewise on the interior masonry was used throughout the main level with drywall limited to the lounge and meeting rooms only. Low emitting materials, paints and adhesives were selected.
Energy performance was modelled during design to select the most cost effective systems and optimize insulation values. Heat recovery ventilators, high efficiency condensing boilers/domestic hot water heaters, high efficiency motors and computerized direct digital controls were incorporated in the mechanical design. Extra insulation was provided in walls and roofs to enhance energy performance. Incorporating all of these features resulted in 23% reduction of energy savings over the Model Building
Code.
After the games this legacy building will allow the City to host more provincial and national tournaments/events that will contribute positively to the local economy. This addition and renovation will also extend the life of the facility and meet the community needs for many more years.
The building was designed to be as multipurpose as possible to enhance revenue potential. In addition to the Winter Games sports a wide variety of events can be hosted such as small concerts, tradeshows, lacrosse, roller hockey, ice shows, and a variety of community shows."