Giffels designs, builds four-pad rink in place of existing Lakeshore Lions arena

Giffels Design-Build Inc. is constructing a $33.1 million arena in Etobicoke for the Lakeshore Lions Club, reportedly the first facility of its type to be built in Toronto in 25 years.

Located at the corner of Kipling Avenue and New Toronto Street, the 260,000 square-foot facility will have four ice pads — three National Hockey League-size pads and one Olympic pad.

The arena also includes 1,000 spectator seats, a full-service restaurant, pro shop and community meeting rooms.

Scheduled for completion by September 2009, the arena will be the future practice facility for the Toronto Maple Leafs and its American Hockey League affiliate, the Toronto Marlies.

Hockey Canada will operate its Ontario regional offices from the facility and use the Olympic-sized pad for training and development of Canada’s national teams. The Hockey Hall of Fame will move its archives and research facilities to the building.

The arena will also be the permanent home of the Etobicoke Dolphins, Canada’s second-largest women’s hockey organization, and the Faustina Sports Club.

Giffels Design-Build has been working with the Lions Club from day one to bring the project to fruition. As new tenants signed on, the Lions’ plans expanded and the design underwent multiple changes.

The project is being funded by the Lakeshore Lions through private equity and fundraising efforts.

“Negotiating this deal and finalizing the arena design has been a long process, but well worth the effort …,” said Bob Harris, president of Lakeshore Lions Arena Inc.

The firm of Stafford Haensli Architects is working with Giffels on the design-build project, which incorporates a heat-recovery system that Giffels says will “significantly reduce” utility costs.

A central, closed-loop condenser piping system will exchange energy from heat pumps, a refrigeration plant and cooling tower.

By utilizing waste energy from the refrigeration plant, energy efficiency in the entire facility will be increased, Giffels says.

In an interview, Ken Burns, vice-president of Giffels Design-Build, said the mechanical system is “unique” to a hockey arena.

The mechanical contractor is Sprint Insight.

Burns said a heavily reinforced concrete floor will be required to accommodate the Hockey Hall of Fame’s archives.

“The loads on these cabinets are quite tremendous.”

The arena, which will replace an existing single-pad facility, is being constructed on a 10-acre site north of Lakeshore Collegiate.

Giffels Design-Build, which previously was responsible for design and construction of the General Motors Centre in Oshawa, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ingenium Group Inc.