RDC Alternative Energy Lab exterior.
The other two buildings were an alternative energy lab and a new residence to increase on-campus housing. These three new buildings together increased the net area of the RDC campus by up to 30 per cent. “It is the largest investiture of growth in the history of RDC since the initial building of the college back in the 1960s,” says Jason Mudry, Director, Campus Management at RDC. “This was a massive undertaking in terms of all the work being done at the same time and coordinating all the construction sites at once was a monumental task for everyone involved.” Because the scale of the existing recreational facilities on campus was so small in comparison to the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre, from an operational planning perspective, it was like starting from scratch. Compounding this challenge was the fact that coordinating the operation side of the project was running concurrent to the construction side, and ensuring that those two sides converged on a specific date for the grand opening took tremendous effort. “I remember being here the night before we opened and we were still sweeping 22 PIC Magazine • December 2020
floors and moving construction pieces out of the way,” says Rix. “By the time the first people stepped through the doors, however, everything looked magnificent. There is always that fear that you are not going to be ready, but when you have something the scale of a Canada Games chomping at your heels, it provides a significant amount of motivation to push through and keep going.” The Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre is pursuing LEED Silver certification, signifying RDC’s commitment to sustainability and maintaining a green campus. There are approximately 2,200 solar panels covering the flat roof sections of the building that generate a significant amount of power through an alternative renewable power source. In addition, the centre has capacity for grey water recycling, collecting rainwater off the building to help flush toilets and reduce overall water use. There’s also a small demonstration geo-thermal unit housed within the building. “The centre and the technology within have become an extension of the learning classroom for the college,” says Mudry. “Not only are we able to save on utility
dollars, but we also get to use the facility as an education component so students can come in and become actively involved in the study of the building from an energy utility perspective.” The response to the centre has been overwhelmingly positive and RDC greatly values what the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre has brought to the college, providing opportunities to become a destination of choice for high-performance sport and sport tourism, and creating spaces that are changing some of the culture at the campus in terms of student engagement relative to health and wellness. “The number of students we have who now come to work out in our facilities, or take in campus recreation events, has grown tremendously because of this building,” says Rix. “We are incredibly proud of the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre and this pause brought on by the pandemic has made us anxious about getting back to business. RDC wants to contribute to our region’s plans to grow sport tourism in the area, and this facility will be an important key in making that happen.” l
