CRESTON & DISTRICT COMMUNITY COMPLEX

FACILITY ENHANCEMENT PROJECT

FEBRUARY 26, 2010

Going, going, gone... as the outdoor pool is broken up and trucked away, work continues at great pace on the new addition to the Creston and District Community Complex. Providing enjoyment and training for thousands of residents over the past decades, the James Ross Memorial Pool will be missed.

Having removed the concrete walls and floor to a point well below frost level, drainage will be tied in to the storm sewer system to capture any groundwater buildup in this area. Backfilling and compacting will then take place to ensure the future parking area does not slump over time.

Compliments of the Creston Museum & Archives, this photo shows the pool in the early stages with pallets of gutter blocks awaiting installation. Foundations have just been poured for the filter house and the lifeguard room has yet to be built.

The lap pool is a sea of scaffolding for the next few weeks as mechanical such as electrical, ductwork and sprinklers are installed. Following that, the steel roof is etched and then coated with several layers of epoxy paint to ensure moisture does not cause corrosion.

Glass thermopanes await installation in the fitness area looking onto the pools. Each panel is 6 x 8 feet and weighs 290 pounds. City Glass from Cranbrook uses a three man crew and several suction cups to carefully put each panel into place.

The upstairs mechanical room continues to fill every available space with pipes, valves, ducts and equipment that will form the heart of the system. The 3 calcium hypochlorite units that will work with the UV units for pool chemistry await piping in the chemical room.

The reception area as well as the administration area directly behind has most of the steel studding installed. The electricians are next with wiring and shortly after, the walls will be drywall, taped and painted. The large opening in centre will house a door as well as windows to allow some light into office area.

The final portion of deck is poured which allows for full access all around the pools to the trades. The decks, which will be tiled, have to maintain certain slopes for drainage and require control cuts made with a diamond saw to accommodate any shrinkage during curing.

Along with the deck, the portion alongside the hot tub has been finished, awaiting tile. The lifeguard room has the control desk raised pad poured which extends onto deck and will have windows to allow 360 degree elevated viewing of the pools.

What is fondly called the “swoosh” in the leisure pool gets finished up with light blue tile - “Glacier Blue” in fact. Requiring some intricate cutting to make square tiles fit into a round hole, the Acapulco Pool's tiling technician uses a diamond blade to form shape. Other high attention areas are around the underwater lights, skimmers, rope hooks and ladder steps. With all the curves and rounded surfaces, the leisure pool and hot tub are significantly more complicated than the lap pool.

A small but significant detail on the exterior is the lighting. Providing illumination to showcase the timberwork as well as for security purposes, these compact fluorescent fixtures are extremely cost efficient and apposite.