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Barrhead Regional Aquatic Centre project in full swing

Work on the Barrhead Regional Aquatic Centre is closing in on completing its first stage of construction – finishing the forms, roughing in all the areas and preparing for installation of the roof.

Work on the Barrhead Regional Aquatic Centre is closing in on completing its first stage of construction – finishing the forms, roughing in all the areas and preparing for installation of the roof.

That is what Shallon Touet, Barrhead’s Parks and Recreation director, and Paul Moores, Clark Builders’ superintendant said.

On Monday, July 11, the Barrhead Leader was given a bird eye’s view of the progress on the centre, thanks to a tour by Touet, which included an overhead view from the Agrena’s roof. The centre is scheduled to be completed by the spring of 2017.

“As you can see, quite a lot of progress has been made since the sod turning ceremony in late April. The lazy river, the learning and leisure pool have all been poured,” Touet said, adding there is still more cement work to be done. “As you can see from the height of all the piping, there is still a bit of cement to be poured. Right now a lot of the areas have been roughed in. After more of the piping and other mechanicals are laid, more concrete will have to be poured.”

Although Touet said he wasn’t involved in the planning of the facility, as he only arrived in town after the preliminary site work had already been started, he is impressed by all the thought and amenities that have been included.

“Take that space there,” he said pointing to an area close to the curling rink. “That will all be deck area. I understand that originally was just going to be empty space. I am so grateful someone had the forethought to make that useable. Now when people are at a swimming event they will have a place to watch.”

When asked if things were proceeding on schedule, Touet said construction is slightly behind where they wanted to be at this point due to all the rain Barrhead has had recently.

“But Clark Builders have built these types of weather delays into their plans,” he said, adding there are a number of inside days scheduled where crews will be able to make the time up. “You can tell this is an experienced, good working crew. There is never any down time. They are always working on something, no matter the weather.”

Moores said despite the fact that the official sod turning ceremony took place on April 5, he and members of his crew have been on site since mid-March doing preliminary excavation and site preparation work.

“Right now we have all the block walls to join the two buildings in place. The leisure and lazy river pools have been poured and all the structural pieces are all on site ready for the next stage of the project, which will be the actual erecting of the building.”

The next stage, Moores added, is the roofing and the studding of the exterior walls.

“The people of Barrhead have been so friendly and easy to get along with,” he said, adding he can tell how excited people are about the project. “A lot of times we see people watching us work through the fence and a lot of people tell us how thankful they are to see construction started.”

Touet agreed with Moores, saying people are getting excited about the aquatic centre.

“Almost every day the rec department gets a phone call from someone asking about swimming lessons and how they can sign up,” he said.


Barry Kerton

About the Author: Barry Kerton

Barry Kerton is the managing editor of the Barrhead Leader, joining the paper in 2014. He covers news, municipal politics and sports.
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