LAC LA BICHE - Work on Lac La Biche’s new aquatic centre is coming along well, says Philip Byrne, an official with EllisDon, a construction services company that involved with the project.
The aquatic centre, which comes with a price tag of $44.9 million, will feature amenities such as a 25-metre competition lap pool, leisure pool, diving board, hot tubs, pool deck, a lazy river, waterslides, as well as a steam room and sauna. Work began last January on the facility, which is slated to open in 2026.
“Construction is going good, basement walls and slab are completed, structure is going up and that’s a big milestone to hit on every project,” Byrne told Lakeland This Week. “Structure has been going together well, no issues to date.”
Structural steel work, he explained, will go until the third week of January. Byrne said on Jan. 4 that steel stud work will be starting in the coming weeks, with the building’s parapets to follow.
“Once parapets are finished, roofing will start on the north side,” he said, adding, these two scopes will follow the structure onto the south side of the facility.
Excavation of the lap pool and leisure pool, Byrne continued, will start when the ground inside the project area has thawed. Concrete for both pools will follow the excavation.
“Once the building is tarped and heated, we can start back on excavation,” he explained.
The winter weather brings challenges for construction crews working outside. Byrne said snow needs to be removed from material in laydown, and off the ground for walking and driving. A laydown area is a selected location on a worksite where tools, materials, equipment and vehicles are temporarily kept, while not being used.
Grit and snow melt need to be used on walkways also.
According to Byrne, wearing heavy gloves has also created somewhat of a challenge for workers, who have a harder time gripping smaller items such as nails, screws, drills, and other tools.
“Workers must wear layers of clothing and warmer gloves, so movement is slower and just handling material is harder.”