Flames arena project suffers slight delay due to COVID-19 pandemic

CALGARY – The novel coronavirus has put a slight delay in the lengthy process of building Calgary’s new NHL arena, but officials say it won’t change the completion date.

A spokeswoman for the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, which is overseeing the joint project between the Flames and the City of Calgary, told Sportsnet that COVID-19 has forced a change in the bidding process.

“At this point, the only impact we have is pretty minor,” said Clare LePan, CMLC’s VP Marketing and Communications.

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“When COVID-19 started we were in the midst of the procurement process for selecting the project team, which is the prime design construction managers and the various structural and mechanical supporting teams. We’ve taken a 30-day pause on that because a lot of the firms that were interested are out of city and were dealing with obvious restrictions like travel restrictions and staffing impacts. We wanted to press pause to allow those teams to adjust and reassemble, even for ourselves to look at how we do those interviews virtually since we can’t do them in person for the foreseeable future.

“In terms of the overall project delivery, we’re early enough that we think that 30-day pause can be absorbed into the longer-term schedule.”

That schedule suggests the first shovel will hit the ground at Stampede Park in the summer of 2021, with a completion date for the $550-million event centre slated for 2024.

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