November 20, 2012

Milton, Ontario velodrome to be one of a kind facility in Canada

MILTON, ONT.

The state-of-the-art Milton Pan Am and Parapan Am Velodrome will be the only facility of its kind in the nation, serving as an international venue for competitive cycling and a recreational centre.

Milton's Class 1 track will feature a 250-metre timber track with two 42-degree angle banks. It will have the same international designation that is required to hold Olympic and elite world championships.

Designed to operate year-round, the facility will provide an important new Olympic- and Paralympic-calibre training facility for high-performance Canadian cyclists who, for the last two decades, have been forced to train outside the country for months at a time.

The three-storey, 14,240-square-metre community centre will also feature three multi-use courts located on the infield. It expected to open in the fall of 2014.

The fully accessible velodrome will also house a training lab, fitness centre, multi-purpose space, office space, cafe/lounge, community bicycle storage, and a retail bike and repair shop. During the Games, the venue will have room for up to 2,500 spectators.

Overall project costs are an estimated $56 million, including the $47.4 million to design, build and finance the project. The remainder is comprised of capital expenditures for equipment, transaction fees, project management and other ancillary costs. Construction will start in February 2013.

The consortium Ontario Sports Solution (ONSS) was awarded the contract earlier this fall. The consortium consists of developers and constructors Bouygues Building Canada Inc. and Kenaidan Contracting Ltd., as well as the design team of Cannon Design, FaulknerBrowns Architects, Arup and Morrison Hershfield.

ONSS is also responsible for three additional Games venues: the Hamilton Pan Am Soccer Stadium, an athletics stadium at York University in Toronto and the resurfacing of tracks at the Toronto Track & Field Centre.

The Velodrome track is designed by Dale Hughes of WorldRecord Tracks Inc., considered one of the top companies for these highly specialized sport facilities.

The project is jointly funded by the federal government, Town of Milton and a number of private donations from the local cycling community, led by Peter Gilgan.

The Toronto 2015 Pan American Games will take place July 10 to 26, 2015 and the Parapan American Games Aug. 7 to 14, 2015

DCN NEWS SERVICES

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