'More life out of them': City looking to improve some community centre arenas in Winnipeg

A number of Winnipeg arenas could be getting a facelift.

The city is looking for a consultant to assess nine arenas run by community centres and report back with suggested fixes and costs, with funding coming from an $8 million provincial pot.

The city said based on the age of the buildings, a lot of the components inside have exceeded their lifespan.

"This isn't meant to get another 50 years out of some of these facilities, but it's meant to get some more life out of them," said Coun. Brian Mayes.

One of the buildings is at the Dakota Community Centre, which has two sheets of ice.

"In (all) honesty, this is a 28-year-old facility. It's probably one of the new facilities in the whole city," said Michelle Augert, the CEO of Dakota Community Centre.

She said there have been costly improvements to the ice plant at the community centre and there are other items on the to-do list, like the dehumidification system and the roof.

"With the elements and stuff, we get leaks and we get different things happening that need to be repaired."

Along with Dakota, the other community centres include Allard, Garden City, Gateway, Glenwood, Maples, Richmond Kings, St. Norbert and West Kildonan Memorial.

The consultant would on the arenas' structural condition, including ice plants, roofs, washrooms, dressing rooms and fire suppression systems.

Mayes said $3.5 million of the provincial funding was previously earmarked for the 12 arenas operated by the city.

The total $8 million won't bring new sheets of ice, but will help with important work.

"$8 million can at least improve the carbon monoxide testing. That kind of thing," said Mayes.

Also part of the work, the city is also including an energy audit, the help curb consumption and save money.

"Generally, for us to run these two pads year-round, can be an average of about $20,000 a month just in Hydro," said Augert.

The request for proposal says there is $450,000 available for the arena assessment contract.