The City of Airdrie is going to be shelling out just over $261,000 to replace a heating and cooling system at the Ron Ebbeson Arena, which was replaced just last year.

The Ron Ebbesen Arena HVAC Lifecycle project was approved by the Council Budget Committee and Council in 2018. The project was subsequently tendered for design, engineering and construction for a total combined cost of $277,610 and was completed in October of last year.

In February 2019, arena operations staff discovered severe deficiencies with the performance of the newly installed HVAC system resulting in a catastrophic boiler failure.

In order to replace the system, City Council approved a budget amendment of $261,485 with funding coming from the Building Capital Reserve and the 2019 Operating Budget.

The current schedule to complete the project is mid-November 2019.

“It is imperative to complete this work as soon as possible in order to mitigate the risk of downtime during the upcoming peak winter season,” said project manager Chris Reason.

An Insurance claim proceeding has been initiated and staff expects to recoup all the costs related to the matter; however, the city says it may be years before the claim is actually settled and will have to pay for the costs out of pocket in the meantime.

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