Construction of the University of Victoria’s $77-million Centre for Athletics, Recreation and Special Abilities officially began Tuesday, marked by the rat-a-tat-tat of school-band drummers and colourfully uniformed UVic Vikes.
Officials from the community and university were also on hand to mark the moment.
UVic president David Turpin said the facility, called CARSA for short, is the biggest building project since the university opened — and is a great legacy for the university’s 50th anniversary.
Turpin said UVic athletic programs rank among the best in Canada. UVic teams have won 71 Canadian championships, 338 athletes have been named All-Canadians and 158 have competed at the Olympics and Paralympics.
UVic has achieved its successes with some of the worst athletic facilities among Canadian universities, Turpin said. “So this is absolutely a critical initiative for the next 50 years going forward for the University of Victoria as we reach out and continue to attract students,” he said.
CARSA will house a gymnasium with 2,000 seats, an 18-metre-high climbing wall, a rowing centre, weight-training space, a sports injury clinic, field house, squash and racquetball courts, a rugby centre and a space for CanAssist to develop devices to help people with disabilities.
The centre’s floor space will be equivalent to three football fields — 17,685 square metres.
In addition to university programs, it will be available for use and rental by community groups.
UVic now records 372,000 card swipes every year for access to its athletic facilities and expects more after CARSA opens in the spring of 2015.
The centre spent many years in planning and ran into opposition from neighbours who mostly objected to the height of its parkade.
Last year, the university agreed to cut the number of parking spaces and reduce the height of the building to win approval from Saanich council.
Campbell Construction has been awarded the building contract. Construction is expected to involve 580 direct and indirect jobs.
