Workers putting in the new arena floor (Submitted Photograph/Amund Otterson)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

no summer downtime at Shellbrook arena

Shellbrook Arena upgrades taking shape

Aug 12, 2019 | 5:58 PM

While the summer months tend to be a quiet time for most community arenas this has not been the case in Shellbrook.

Contractors and volunteers have been working hard on a couple of projects, including putting in a new ice floor. Amund Otterson, who is serving as the project manager on behalf of the arena upgrade committee, said the installation has gone well.

“I think they started at 7 a.m. Friday morning and probably sometime Saturday afternoon, the trowelling was completed; looks like a very nice floor,” he said.

The process of putting in the new base started in the early summer months with contractors and volunteers going to work to take out the old floor. Otterson said they had equipment loaned to them from the town and RM of Shellbrook.

“Just locals in a typical Shellbrook way of getting things done, volunteerism to the nth degree, so they removed the existing concrete and all the piping,” he said, with special thanks to the local Kinsmen Club and churches who stepped in to help with the effort.

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Along with the new floor, the boards and penalty boxes have been removed and will also be replaced. The arena’s lobby is also getting some work done, which includes new viewing glass and the removal of insulation that contains asbestos.

Another upgrade has been the installation of a low emissivity ceiling, which will ultimately mean less building heat radiating back onto the ice. That will mean less work for the new ice plant and reduced energy costs, according to Otterson.

“It’s all about conserving energy and reducing greenhouses gases,” he said, noting there will be modern insulation throughout.

Otterson said all of the work is on schedule and the facility will be ready come the fall when the ice is set to go back in. The project manager credits construction contractors for keeping the work on schedule.

Trucks pump concrete for the new floor into the arena (Submitted Photograph/Amund Otterson)

MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn