Architecture firm selected for Active Living Centre

May 31, 2023 | 11:22 AM

The City of Vernon has come to a decision on who will design the new Active Living Centre.

Speaking with Vernon Matters, Doug Ross, project manager for the Active Living Centre (ALC), stated Group2 Architecture Interior Design Ltd. was selected to design the new facility May 19.

Ten architecture firms had submitted proposals for the $121 million project, which was then short listed down to the top three who were interviewed and had their proposals examined, but ultimately it was decided that the city should move forward with Group2, which is based out of Calgary.

“Group2 had the combination of IPD experience — integrated project delivery experience — and then they also have experience building recreation centres and aquatic centres, so it was really that combination of things,” Ross explained to Vernon Matters at an open house held by the city May 30 at the Vernon Rec Centre.

“The way they worked together during their interview, that really put them over the top.”

Labour Statistics

Regional unemployment continued to climb in April

May 08, 2026

Stop Sprawl Advocates

Group opposing housing development in the Commonage garnered public support

May 08, 2026

Snowpack at 31 per cent of normal

Drought expected for the Okanagan as snowpack levels continue steep decline

May 08, 2026

The next stage in the process will be hiring general contractors for the project, which is expected to be complete in early June. Requests for proposals will then open for other partners including consultants and major trades.

Ross said following that, project team members will travel down to the Lower Mainland to tour recreation facilities.

“We’re going to be looking for innovative ideas; we’re going to be looking at what works and what doesn’t work; what would they do differently if they had a chance to do it over again,” Ross stated.

“So that we can have lessons learned from those facilities and use them on ours.”

Since the unveiling of the plan to build the new facility and the release of concept drawings, members of the public have been vocal in saying the facility looks unappealing and calling for more “fun amenities,” which Ross acknowledged, and said would be included.

“Absolutely we want to have more amenities than what we were able to show in the conceptual drawings and that’s one thing we have to try to remind the public is those were just conceptual drawings and we really did try to under promise so that we could over deliver,” Ross told Vernon Matters.

“One of the things we were very careful about was that we didn’t want to promise the world and then, in this period we’re going through with all this inflation, not be able to deliver on those promises. So we made a deliberate effort to under promise and then over deliver. We’re only going to just start working with Group2 but we’ve already let them know that one of our goals is to out-do what we had planned in the conceptual drawings.”

Open houses to discuss the plans for the ALC and gather input on what amenities should be included will be held at future, undisclosed dates.

Ross added the project team updated the estimates for the ALC in June 2022 and were calculating costs based on inflation rates and rising costs of materials and labour, stating based on those figures, he believes the project will be on-budget and that they have enough contingency built into their plan.

The timeline for the project remains as previous reported, with design going from December 2023 to May 2024, construction beginning in May 2024 and completing in July 2026, commissioning the facility between August and September of 2026, then having the facility operational by October of that year.

A new ALC website has been launched to track the progress and access information of the project.

by Liam Verster

View Comments