The Council of the Town of Sedgewick has approved the temporary closure of the arena at the Wild Rose Co-op Recreation Centre due to excessive corrosion of the roof’s purlins.  Purlins refer to roof framing members that span parallel to the building eaves and support the roof.  The Town recently engaged the services of an engineering firm to conduct tests after a noticeable amount of rust was identified on some of the purlins.

Prior to making their decision, Council reviewed the technical report provided to them which showed the center purlins having a 25% reduction in strength as well as a recommendation from a structural engineer advising to immediately close the facility.  Council also discussed the 2014 roof collapse of a curling rink in Drayton Valley and the 2018 roof collapse of the City of Calgary’s Fairview Arena which triggered city-wide arena inspections prior to making their decision.

Council is diligently engaging all avenues to mitigate the issue as safely and quickly as possible. Mayor Perry Robinson stated “as it is Council’s #1 priority to secure the safety and well-being of our citizens, we are left with no other choices in the end.” Programming at the arena will be moved to neighboring facilities in the interim.  Further information will be released to the public upon availability.