The Arenex in Queen’s Park came crashing down before the city had a chance to clear snow from its roof.
Arenex staff contacted the fire department about suspicious noises in the roof on the afternoon of Dec. 19. Within hours, the roof had collapsed under the weight of the snow, destroying the 78-year-old building.
“Our plan was to come back first thing in the morning and look at how we could take some of the snow off the roof,” Fire Chief Tim Armstrong told council Monday night. “During the evening we determined it was too dangerous.”
Prior to the collapse, the Arenex was evacuated and city personnel were sent to the scene. A structural engineer assessed the outside and inside of the snow-covered building.
“One of the main trusses had a visual separation. There was also quite a bit of pressure. You could tell from the sounds in the building, creaking and groaning, that it was very much under stress,” Armstrong said. “We basically condemned the building at that time, confirmed that there was nobody in the building, set up a collapse zone around the perimeter of the building and started to disconnect the utilities to the building.”
Jim Lowrie, the city’s director of engineering, said two 113-foot-long trusses spanned the length of the building and provided the main support for the building’s timber roof. Photos taken on the night of the collapse showed one timber connection was pulling apart and another was showing signs of failure.
“Our expectation was the building would survive and somebody would be looking at it closer the next morning at daylight,” Lowrie said, “but unfortunately the building didn’t last the night.”
The city has hired a consulting engineer to assess the cause of the roof collapse.
According to Lowrie, the building is insured and coverage is being provided for the full replacement value. He said some of the wood from the building and the wood floor may be able to be reused or repurposed and other materials will be recycled.
Alternate venues being considered
Dean Gibson, the city’s director of parks and recreation, said it is “not a small task” to find alternate locations for the facility that’s used extensively by the community throughout the year, but outlined some plans made to date:
* Motoring Munchkins, a toddler drop-in recreational program, will be provided at Centennial Community Centre starting Jan. 23.
* Parent-and-tot and preschool gymnastics programs will proceed at the Vancouver Circus School in River Market, starting Jan. 23.
* A ball hockey league has been offered a chance to relocate to the Poirier Forum in Coquitlam, effective Jan. 15.
* Volleyball and badminton drop-in participants are being encouraged to attend a program offered at Queensborough Middle School.
Gibson said the city has identified 35 potential sites where it could offer programs in the next year and will consider how they fit the city’s needs. Sites being considered include churches, schools, warehouses, educational institutions, private businesses and retail spaces, both in New Westminster and neighbouring communities.
“Our challenge is to be able to get into venues where we can maximize our program offerings and do so with predictability and continuity,” he said. “Many of the venues that are available in the community are available for short periods of time or with a very infrequent schedule. That doesn’t serve us well in the type of programming that we want to do.”
Staff hope to have more details about alternate venues later this month and are “fairly confident” they’ll be able to reinstate core programs offered at the Arenex within the next month or two, provided the equipment recovered from the arena hasn’t been damaged and is usable.
Until a permanent solution is found, Gibson said the city needs a dedicated facility that gives staff control around scheduling. Staff will report back to council in early February about the feasibility of a clear-span fabric structure – known as a bubble – that could be used for a few years.
