The City of Calgary announced Wednesday that a new arena would not be built on the former site of the Fairview Arena, following its roof collapse in February 2018.
The arena, built in 1972, was demolished in March.
In a news release, the acting director for Calgary Recreation explained the city’s current practice is to build multi-sheet arenas (typically in combination with other amenities) to best address “regional needs” and “achieve economies of scale.”
James McLaughlin said the site where the Fairview arena was located cannot accommodate a facility of that size.
“Given the loss of this ice sheet we will be updating our arena studies to explore current and future citizen and stakeholder needs in the region,” McLaughlin said. “The study will help guide future development, make best use of limited financial resources and maximize investment back into the community.”
According to the news release, Fairview residents will be engaged on the future use of the site and a decision will be made “once neighbourhood and city-wide needs have been fully explored.”
A report on the collapse conducted by an independent engineering firm was presented to the City of Calgary last week and identified multiple factors that could have contributed to the roof collapse.
The City of Calgary said that although it’s common for reports of this kind to point to more than one possible factor, they have asked for an additional assessment.
Following the Fairview Arena roof collapse, city safety inspectors conducted visual assessments of all 41 city-owned arenas but found no “imminent signs of risk.”
WATCH: Calgary emergency crews were called to the Fairview Arena on Feb. 20, 2018 after the roof collapsed. Gary Bobrovitz reports.
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