Active Living Centre Project

Overview

The City of Vernon is planning a new, modern recreation facility designed to promote community health and well-being through recreation services. When complete, the Active Living Centre (ALC) will embrace the City’s vision to deliver a facility that not only meets the needs of a growing community, but also strives to attract new residents and visitors to Greater Vernon. The new facility will be accessible, inclusive, fun, family-friendly orientated and orientated towards participants of all ages and abilities.

What’s New

Council Approves Conceptual Design for Active Living Centre

Throughout the referendum process, and public engagement sessions that followed, the project team heard from community members who wanted the City to deliver a recreation facility that was not only state-of-the-art and met the needs of a growing community, but that was also fun, family friendly and designed for individuals of all ages and abilities.

At the Monday, February 26, 2024 Regular meeting, Council approved the conceptual design of the new Active Living Centre (ALC) which now includes several enhancements that were not included in the original feasibility study design.

“Council has made the decision to invest up to $15 million, in addition to the budgeted $121 million, to facilitate these enhancements that are over and above what was proposed in the initial feasibility study design,” said Mayor Victor Cumming. “This additional investment means that we have been able to include fun water features, incorporate the Syilx Culture into the building design and ensure the new facility is Net Zero Ready and Rick Hanson Gold Level Certified.” ALC enhancements will be funded by reserves plus other grant opportunities will be pursued to offset costs. If needed, the additional $15 million identified will be accessed in 2026.

Read the full media release here.

Background

On October 15, 2022, citizens of Vernon voted 61% in favour of borrowing up to $121M to develop the Vernon Active Living Centre. The facility will be located at 3501 43rd Avenue, west of the Kal Tire Place and Kal Tire Place North twin arenas.

On November 28, Vernon City Council adopted Loan Authorization Bylaw #5908 to borrow up to $121M, inclusive of all costs, for the development and construction of the Active Living Centre.

On December 12, Vernon City Council endorsed the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) process to develop the facility. IPD has been approved by Mayor and Council as the collaborative framework that best ensures the Active Living Centre has a strong focus on accessibility, inclusivity, and sustainability while creating a fun and family friendly environment. 

IPD Project Team
A City of Vernon Active Living Centre IPD project team has been established, including: Chris Sheel, Manager of Procurement, and Doug Ross, former Director, Recreation Services. They will oversee the project and act as the owner’s representatives. Joining Chris and Doug is Crystal Vandermeulen of VDM Consulting. The City's team is being assisted by an IPD Advisor, who is coaching and guiding the group through the implementation of the IPD model. The purpose of the IPD team is to facilitate the collaborative design, construction, and commissioning of the Active Living Centre. 

The IPD Process
The IPD process has been adopted for an increasing number of public sector projects. The Canadian construction industry has been developing considerable capacity and valuable experience applying IPD for a wide range of major projects. An important aspect of IPD is that the model merges all parties into a single shared multi-party contract. It transforms the traditional Design-Bid-Build, low bid, change order, adversarial relationship, into one that is team focused and value added. IPD motivates the team using shared financial interests instead of ‘us’ and ‘them’. IPD is a highly collaborative process that is designed to encourage behaviours that lead to exceptional project performance and value. IPD selects and merges the architect, general contractor, and trade partners early on to form a team that together conducts a validation phase.

The owner’s representatives are embedded and work closely with the core team using Target Value Design and Building Improvement Modelling to firmly establish facts and figures regarding project design, cost, and schedule. The validation phase is conducted over approximately 4-months and all project partners together perform preliminary design, intensive cost estimating, and agree upon a Target Cost to owner for the project. This process delivers the kind of detailed and committed budget certainty early on that the City of Vernon requires for this high-profile project.

IPD not only establishes full participation and accountability from all contracted parties; it also creates the necessity by imbedding five structural elements. They are: early involvement of key participants, shared risk and reward based on project outcome, joint project control, reduced liability exposure, and jointly developed and validated targets.

Active Living Centre Objectives 
In selecting and utilizing IPD, the City can achieve a higher level of confidence in ensuring the prioritization and delivery of the following objectives as established by Vernon City Council:

  • Achieve the goal of the Greater Vernon Active Living Centre Feasibility Study, “to find an indoor facility mix that meets the current and future needs of a growing community and has the opportunity to attract new residents and visitors to the Greater Vernon area”.
  • The facility is accessible, inclusive, fun, family oriented and designed for participants of all ages and abilities and includes all facility features as proposed in the Greater Vernon Active Living Centre Feasibility Study and provided to the public during the referendum communication campaign.
  • The design of the Active Living Centre reflects the Syilx culture.
  • The facility be net-zero ready.
  • The facility meets or exceeds the Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Gold Certification.
  • Budget not exceeded.
  • Projected facility opening date by September 2026.

The IPD team will use these objectives and embed them in the Active Living Centre project from the beginning. These objectives will be quantified and further refined during the validation phase.

Proposed Project Timeline
In general, the IPD project process includes the following phases:

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Stay Up-to-date on the Project

To help you stay totally up-to-date on the project progress, we have developed a dedicated website: www.vernonalc.ca. We encourage everyone to visit that webpage and continue to be part of this exciting project with us!

Additional information