Kinsmen Arena Ice Systems Upgrades

Another significant milestone in the Kinsmen Arena project will be underway this upcoming weekend! Starting tomorrow, September 12, the new boards and arena glass will be installed, and should be completed by early next week. While we've been waiting for the concrete floor to cure lots of work has progressed:

• Bleacher seating is nearing completion, including the new wheelchair accessible seating area.
• New score clock has been installed.
• Protective netting installed.
• Dehumidification systems installed.
• Sump pump and related controls and alarms installed.
• Gas detection equipment installed in the plant room.
• New hot water heaters installed.

Once the boards are installed some finishing touch ups will be worked on. The Project Team along with the consultant, engineers, and general contractor will be conducting a final walkthrough on September 29th. Completion of the project remains scheduled for October 2nd, at which point ice making will begin, with ice planned for skating Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

After being poured last week, the new arena floor was covered with blankets to assist with the curing process. The blankets were removed Wednesday this week and the concrete is being cleaned. Additional curing time is required before the new rink boards can be installed, however work is continuing on other areas of the project, including bleacher seating, sound system wiring, and installation of new equipment in the mechanical room.

A huge milestone in the Kinsmen Arena project was completed today! Starting early this morning concrete began to flow into the facility to start building up the new arena floor. It took several hours to pour all the concrete, but the work is not finished yet. Power trowelling and finishing work will continue through the evening and overnight to give the arena floor that nice smooth, polished finish.

The concrete requires 28 days to fully cure before work on the new rink boards can start. While waiting for concrete to cure work will continue on areas outside of the arena floor, include spectator and player benches, dehumidification components, and the mezzanine for the new sound booth.

• The cold floor piping has now been installed.
• A layer of metal mesh reinforcement will be placed next.
• The concrete pour is scheduled for August 12, and is expected to take approximately 10 to 12 hours to complete.
• Following the pour, the slab will undergo a 28-day curing period before the next phase of work begins, however other work will continue to progress while we wait.
  
  

The final stages of floor preparation are under way, as we get closer and closer to pouring the new arena slab. The sand bed over the warm floor piping has been installed, along with ground poly covering and cold floor insulation. Currently, rebar is being laid out over the floor, with the cold floor piping to follow. Once these items are completed the project will shift to prepping and pouring concrete for the arena floor.

Lots of headway has been made over the past few days at the Kinsmen Arena! Warm floor pipes and been installed and are now being covered with a sand bed, block work is complete around new entry and exit doors, and the installation of the new sound system has started. We're very excited to see the progress coming along day by day!

Last week the sand base was installed, and work started on the concrete blocks which form the new doors into the arena area. By the end of the week, installation of the headers for the floor piping were installed, and block walls were nearing completion. This work marks significant headway on the project as we get closer and closer to pouring the new concrete arena floor.

Walking and seating concrete surfaces have been completed, and block wall construction to add doors is scheduled to begin soon. Tie bars are currently being re-installed, with the final 6 inches of compacted gravel expected to be placed by the end of the week. Next week, crews will work to install the compacted sand bed followed by the warm floor piping system. Once the warm floor installation is complete, the cold floor will be installed as the next critical step toward creating the ice surface. While several key phases remain before the arena can be ice-ready, these developments mark steady progress in the project timeline.

The perimeter slab is taking shape as concrete pouring continues. Some rounded corners have been poured this week, with the other side prepped and ready for forming. In addition to the concrete work, the new dehumidifier arrived, and was placed on the asphalt pad and support columns on the east side of the arena.

Due to two unforeseen issues, the Kinsmen Arena project will be delayed by approximately three weeks. Substantial completion (the point at which the project is completed and ice making can begin) has been adjusted to September 28 to accommodate additional time needed for the following impacts:

1. Rebar Cross Ties
   During demolition and removal of the existing arena floor, structural rebar cross ties were found underneath the concrete floors. These rebar supports tie the columns together under the slab, increasing the strength and integrity of the structure. The tie-ins were not previously known until cutting and removal of the slab began. Rather than further impacting the project timeline by leaving the tie-ins and working around them, the decision was made to cut the rebar so that excavation, backfill, and compaction could proceed without the need to work around the tie-ins. Once backfilling and compaction was completed the rebar tie-ins were re-installed and welded back onto the support columns.
   
   This added work has increased the project timeline by 11 days.
   
   
   
   
2. Dewatering
   Near the end of April, and as ground material excavation neared the west side of the arena area, ground water began to seep into the work area at only three feet deep, with excavation needing to go down to seven feet in some placed. To combat the ground water, sump pump pits were installed to pump water away, and large fans added to help dry out the ground materials so excavation could continue.
   
   This added work has increased the project timeline by 12 days.
   
   

The project team continues to investigate options to re-gain lost time during the remainder of the project. However, the critical components left to complete is the pouring and curing of the concrete within the arena, which will take several weeks to complete. Barring any other issues with the project skating is anticipated to start at the Kinsmen Arena within the first two full weeks of October.