The 1.1-million-sq-ft, CA$613.7-million Rogers Place Arena, the new home of the National Hockey League’s Edmonton Oilers, anchors a major revitalization of the city’s downtown area, spurring $5 billion in private and public development. The first Canadian NHL facility to be certified LEED Silver, it was the first city project to be delivered under a guaranteed-maximum-price contract.

More than 80,000 sq meters of material was removed during excavation to make way for a below-grade parking garage, which sits beneath a suspended ice slab at grade—an atypical design for an NHL arena. Most NHL ice slabs are placed on a sub-base made of clay and gravel; at Rogers Place, the 8-­in. ice slab, consisting of 51,000 linear ft of pipe, sits atop a 16­-in. concrete structural slab, which lays on top of the parking garage. Close to 40 concrete trucks were needed to complete the slab placement, which required over 320 sq m of concrete.

Crews installed 9,000 tonnes of structural steel over a one-year period. Also included under the scope of the project were Ford Hall, the Downtown Community Arena, light-rail transit connections and a pedestrian walkway.

Related Article: Global Best Projects Awards 2017