Athabasca Regional Aquatic & Fitness Centre

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Athabasca County and the Town of Athabasca entered into a cost-sharing arrangement for the construction of the Regional Aquatic & Fitness Centre to serve residents of the greater Athabasca region. It is connected to the Athabasca Regional Multiplex and for years to come it will provide recreational swimming options, aquatic fitness opportunities, swimming events and personal fitness options.

The facility has two pools including a 25 metre lap pool and a leisure pool with zero entry, a lazy river, water slide, and water features. A new fitness facility was identified as important to users of the multiplex a new fitness room complete with new equipment was added to facility.

Core Amenities of the facility will include the following:

25 metre lap pool	Change room cubicles	Administration amenities – staff office, staff change room, first aid room
Leisure pool	Fitness Centre	Lockers – BYO lock & rental locks
Lazy river	Barrier free pool	Storage rooms

Features added to the Project:

Pool Bleachers	Family Change Room	Climbing wall
Hot Tub	Waterslide	Party Room & Rental Room
Diving Board	Viewing Area	State of the art filtration system

How the design was determined

There was much input received by the community as part of a consultation process which involved members of the public and users of the multiplex and existing pool facility.

Along with elected officials appointed to the committee from the Town and County, they comprised a Pool Design Committee which met regularly to determine the future of the project. The sharing of ideas was critical to the facility being successful in both the short and long term. Their work now complete, the Pool Design Committee has now turned over construction of the facility to the two municipalities, project manager, architect, and design build contractors.

The location of the pool is the west side of the Athabasca Regional Multiplex and users will access it through the multiplex facility.

General Information about the Project

The Regional Aquatic & Fitness Centre was built using a design-build concept. Design-build means both the design and construction take place simultaneously throughout the length of the contract. A design-build contractor leads the project and hires various sub-contractors to build and deliver the finished project.

The design-build contractor was Clark Builders who put in place a team of contractors to look after all aspects of the pool and fitness centre construction. A Project Manager was hired by Athabasca County and the Town of Athabasca to work with the original design group (Group 2) and the general contractor on behalf of the two municipal partners.

Construction began in the fall of 2017 and the facility opened to the public in July 2019. A grand opening was held on September 11, 2019.

Project Costs

Construction of the new Regional Aquatic & Fitness Centre cost $15.2 million to build. The costs of the furnishings and equipment were addition to this amount. Some equipment from the multiplex and pool will be utilized again, a fund raising campaign was in initiated to help connect contributors with sponsorship opportunities of this regional recreation facility. The total cost of the new recreational facility was $17 million.

Athabasca County has agreed to pay for 60% of the project and the Town of Athabasca 40%. Several summer villages within the County and the Village of Boyle made contributions to the facility.