(file photo/meadowlakeNOW Staff)

By meadowlakeNOW Staff

Design-construction partnership

City awards contract for new Meadow Lake multiplex project

May 31, 2023 | 11:44 AM

The City of Meadow Lake announced Wednesday it has awarded a design-build contract for its new $51 million multiplex facility to Quorex Construction Services Ltd.

The city said in its release the project will be completed by Quorex, with Workun Garrick Partnership as the design partner.

“Other specialists and firms are working as part of this design-build team to give the Meadow Lake area the best possible end-product,” the city added.

Construction on the project is expected to start later this year. When complete, the new facility will house an NHL-size arena, administration space, and a field house.

In the fall of 2022, the City received confirmation of investments from the federal government (up to $14,932,023) and the province (up to $12,442,108) to help it build the new facility. The total investment under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP), including the City’s portion under the grant, is $37.3 million.

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“Whether it’s hockey in the winter or soccer in the summer, sport brings communities together,” federal Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Dominic LeBlanc said. “The residents of Meadow Lake can look forward to seeing this new facility become a reality – one where friendships will be made, and memorable games will be played.”

Saskatchewan Minister of Trade and Export Development and MLA for Meadow Lake Jeremy Harrison, on behalf of the province’s Government Relations Minister Don McMorris, said the province will invest more than $12.4 million for the Meadow Lake Multiplex project.

“[It] will not only contribute to this facility becoming a reality, but once completed will help create new memories of competitive hockey games, fun recreational activities and memorable gatherings,” he said. “In other words, when this new multiplex opens, it will stand as a testament to the resiliency, hard work and co-operation of everyone in the Meadow Lake area – and will strengthen the heart of all of the communities who call this special part of Saskatchewan home.”

The City of Meadow Lake related it will be responsible for funding the remainder of the project cost. Most of the city’s funding is expected to come from insurance proceeds following a fire in 2021 at the previous Meadow Lake and District Arena. City council committed an additional $5 million when applying for Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) funding, and another $9.5 million on May 8. The total budget for this project is now $51.83 million.

Council is considering various options to fund the remainder of this project cost.

“Now with the support of the Rural Municipality (RM) of Meadow Lake No. 588, that job is a little easier,” the city said.

“We are working hard to source the funding that we’ve now committed to include the field house portion,” Meadow Lake Mayor Merlin Seymour said. “The RM has generously committed to support the addition of the field house to the project in the amount of $2,379,020. We couldn’t be more thankful for their support. That means the city will now just need to source $7,620,980 to build the field house. That certainly seems more do-able than a whole $9.5 million.”

The RM of Meadow Lake believes it was important for it to support this project, since it will benefit the region as a whole.

“We unanimously agreed to offer the funding in support of adding the field house to this project,” RM of Meadow Lake Acting Reeve Dale Sheppard said. “A field house would be a real benefit to residents across the region. The RM has always supported recreation provided by the city, and this is just an extension of that support. We still have details to work out and negotiate on how that will work, but we hope to have an official funding agreement signed with the city soon.”

The city noted the project team is looking at ways to also incorporate space for event centre programming within the proposed design.

“We’re pretty excited to get things moving on this project with Quorex and Workun Garrick,” City Parks and Recreation Manager Regan Beck said. “As far as I see it, they were the company that really understood what the city needed, took the city’s feedback to heart throughout the process, and provided the best value for dollar in their proposal.”

He added their proposed design “really hit the mark.”

“While the project might look a little different than originally intended, we really do think we are getting the best possible value for our dollar with Quorex,” Beck said. “We do have plans to move forward adding the field house. There is some potential for some kind of event space as well.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

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