Construction on the $900-million Scotia Place is nine months underway, and the City of Calgary says it continues to be on time and on budget.
Shoring and excavation is about 90 per cent complete and around 1,100 structural piles have been installed.
“The substructure, ice rink, dressing rooms, back-of-house, food and beverage facilities—there’s a ton of stuff that goes in the first three levels,” said Robert Hunter, event centre project lead.
Work above ground level will likely begin later this year.
The impact of tariffs on the price of the project was also discussed at city hall on Thursday.
“As of today, we’re on time, on budget and tariffs haven’t impacted this project. That being said, we don’t know what will happen next week or months from now. Administration is on top of it all,” said Sonya Sharp, Ward 1 councillor.
Almost 30 per cent of supply contracts have been signed, including one for steel.
The raw product is coming from Europe and is then fabricated in Canada.
“We’re trying to get as much of the project procured in a short time frame so that we have the comfort level that we’re kind of through the buying phase. That’s a discussion that’s ongoing every day,” Hunter said.
However, not all supplies will escape U.S. tariffs.
Hunter says seats, video boards and sound systems will likely have to come from the United States.
“If we come to that point in time and we have to look at overruns, we certainly will. The job right now is to stay focused on delivering this project on time and on budget and figuring out the way that we don’t let tariffs impact the cost of this,” Mayor Jyoti Gondek said.
The event centre committee held its final meeting Thursday.
They voted to dissolve the committee, as the development permit was approved for the project.
Updates will now come from the infrastructure and planning committee.
Scotia Place is set to open in the fall of 2027.
