Construction on the Calgary event centre project is nine months into a 36-month timeline, project officials said Thursday, as work continues to mitigate any potential impacts from U.S. tariffs.
The update came as part of the final meeting of the city’s Event Centre Committee, which was struck in 2022 to revive the project after the project’s previous deal between the city and Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC) fell through.
“Now it’s our responsibility to get it built and get it finished on time and on budget,” City of Calgary project lead Bob Hunter told reporters.
According to project officials, shoring and excavation work on the site in Victoria Park is 90 per cent finished and around 1,100 structural piles have been installed.
To date, 308,000 cubic metres of dirt has been removed from the site to make way for 41,000 cubic metres of concrete to be poured.
9,000 metric tonnes of rebar will then be installed, and the building will require 5,000 kilometres of electrical wiring.
“It is the start of all the below-grade that has to occur, and it’s a very significant amount of below-grade work,” Hunter told committee.
“Hopefully by the early fall or later in the year, we will be back up to grade level and people will be able to start to see as the steel starts to go up and the steel structure starts to go up.”
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The project team noted timelines have the building enclosed in 2026 so interior construction can begin.
Under the current construction schedule, Scotia Place is set to be complete and open its doors in the fall of 2027, prior to the start of the 2027-2028 NHL season.
“I think what’s important is that as of today, we’re on time and on budget, and tariffs haven’t impacted this project,” Ward 1 Coun. and Event Centre committee chair Sonya Sharp said.
“That being said — we don’t know what will happen next week.”
Much of the discussion Thursday centered around U.S.-imposed tariffs, and the work to mitigate the potential impacts to the project.
In an effort to avoid any impacts, Hunter said the project team is working to secure contracts and materials as quickly as possible, and mostly with Canadian companies.
An $80 million steel contract was signed in February with a Canadian supplier Walters with the raw materials coming from Europe to be manufactured in Hamilton, Ont.
“I was especially pleased to hear that we have been able to procure our steel in a way that maintains the budget that we had anticipated,” Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said.
Hunter said electrical and mechanical contracts are currently out for tender, with the excavation and concrete contracts awarded to local firms.
However, he said there are some materials that must be sourced through U.S. suppliers.
“Ones that we still have to look at are literally seats, video boards, sound systems, that are almost 100 per cent U.S. sourced,” he told reporters.
If the event centre building goes over budget, the agreements state the additional costs must be split 50-50 by the City of Calgary and CSEC.
With work officially underway after the development permit for Scotia Place was approved in December, the Event Centre Committee has now formally dissolved.
All future updates on the project will now go to the city’s Infrastructure and Planning Committee.
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