The old Mosaic Stadium won’t see any explosions or wrecking balls. It’s set to come down much as it was built: piece by piece.
The Hamilton-based company Budget Demolition won the contract to bring the old stadium down for $2.01 million.
A series of excavators will basically cut the building apart into pieces, Kyle Bouma, Budget Demolition’s project manager, said.
Part of the demolition will include a controlled collapse on the west side of the stadium, he added.
“It’s probably similar to a tree falling,” Bouma said. “It’ll be a slow descent of the building, and it will basically lay down flat so there won’t be any large bangs or crashes.”
Jill Hargrove, the City of Regina’s facility management services director, said the city is aware of residents’ interest in the collapse.
“People are looking for a little bit of excitement, and I think the controlled collapse could provide an interesting aspect for residents,” she said. “So in the next couple of weeks, we’ll be working closely with budget demolition to determine scheduling and what possible events could be hosted for that.”
The city auctioned off memorabilia from inside the old stadium, including 880 benches and more than 114,500 square feet of turf.
Proceeds will go towards offsetting the cost of the demolition, but there won’t be a final figure on how much was earned until at least the end of this week, Hargrove said.
Excavators are expected to move in within the next week, and the initial part of the demolition should be finished by December, Bouma said.
Crews will then work on removing the foundation and site grading. The entire project should be finished by April, he said.
The site will then be up for redevelopment.