The Rose Kohn and Jimmie Condon arenas have been a staple for the city’s southwest area for decades as a recreation center and a community hub for residents.

Since each arena’s initial construction in 1968 and 1983, the twin arenas have not undergone any significant renovations. In 2021, PCL’s Special Projects team expanded and rehabilitated the facility, ultimately revitalizing the neighborhood’s love of play.

In partnership with the City of Calgary, the project team transformed the 5,825 square meter Rose Kohn and Jimmie Condon arenas into a key gathering spot for the community. This included the selective structural demolition and abatement of the south envelope to accommodate an NHL-sized ice rink and two existing ice plants. A new sprinkler, mechanical and electrical systems, a stair core and an update of interior finishes were also included in the upgrades.

A large focus of the project was modernizing the facility to suit the needs of its community—the recreation center is now suited to host competitive hockey. Improvements to the Jimmie Condon rink included bleachers, which increased spectator seating to over 240 seats. The renovation also replaced two existing refrigeration systems with a single refrigeration system to improve energy efficiency, increasing accessibility to the change rooms and tripling spectator seating with spots for over 400 people. To further increase the end-use profitability of the location, the project team added a new multipurpose room, accessible public washrooms, conference room spaces and interior offices to provide additional space for community programming.

The project team transformed the well-used community hub into a modernized, welcoming arena facility by leveraging PCL's scheduling and market expertise.  

During construction, an unexpected shift in tenancy resulted in a redesigned scope, which presented both a challenge and an opportunity. The project team had the opportunity to add significant multi-use capacity to the facility but had to work closely with the City of Calgary and consulting partners to ensure timely delivery. The team used creative scheduling and preemptive procurement to avoid retendering delays and integrated the additional changes to meet the scheduled completion date.