Biathlon building work delayed at Canmore Nordic Centre

CANMORE – Construction work at the new biathlon building at the Canmore Nordic Centre has been delayed, according to Alberta Forestry and Parks. 

While the building is mostly completed, the provincial government fired the original contractor prior to the World Cup events in Canmore earlier this year.

“To ensure the necessary work for the two international events in February and March 2024 would be completed on time, the original general contractor was replaced,” said Benji Smith, press secretary at the office of the Minister of Infrastructure, in an email.

“Infrastructure will hire a Construction Manager through a request for proposal this summer to complete the minimal remaining work.”

Construction work is expected to be completed in late 2024, according to Forestry and Parks.

Smith added the biathlon building was approved for temporary occupancy in February for the cross-country skiing and biathlon world cups. However, “important elements”, such as the fire suppression system, was not completed in time.

Norbert Meier, events chair at Alberta World Cup Society, said the ways things have transpired this year have been disappointing.

Meier, along with Ken Davies, chair of the Canmore Biathlon World Cups, have worked closely with the detailed planning of the building from the beginning.

“When the scope of work for 2023 was changed last year, I think we were all expecting work to continue this year and the fact that it’s not continuing as expected this year is disappointing from a loss of momentum perspective,” said Meier.

“When you start a project you want to work until it’s done and you want that to be efficient and fast and get busy using the facility that you’re trying to build, so it’s disappointing from that perspective.”

Meier added “it’s obvious some work will have to wait until next year.”

Last year, construction timeline plans for 2023 started falling through at the building, which broke ground in May 2022.

Calgary-based companies Rock Iron Contracting Inc. and Graham Construction were working on the building at the time.

“So once you realize you can’t finish what you started, you have to question whether or not you should have started in the first place,” said Meier.

Kerry Dankers, CEO of Biathlon Canada, said despite the challenges, the national sport organization saw the benefits of the incomplete building at the World Cup in March. 

“Thousands of fans made their way to the facility to cheer on the team as well over 70 million online viewers worldwide got a glimpse of the beautiful new facility,” said Dankers, in an email.

“Furthermore, we are looking forward to the delayed completion of the building this year to be used to host local and national events for years to come and improve our ability to win bids for increased international events benefitting the Bow Valley and the sport.”

A Para Nordic Ski World Cup is planned for December 2025 in Canmore, which would have to use the building. Meier said they were assured work would be completed by then.

The province committed $17.5 million to help replace the biathlon building, the stadium and refresh infrastructure such as helping with snow-making capabilities and storage capacity.