The Charles Jago Northern Sports Centre is a new and impressive $30.75 million structure at the University of Northern British Columbia campus.
Sports and Recreation
The Charles Jago Northern Sports Centre is a made-in-Prince George special.
It took hard work and commitment by the centre’s partners to make a reality, the impressive $30.75 million structure at the University of Northern British Columbia campus. Persistence was part of the equation, too. It culminated September 21 with the Northern Sports Centre’s official opening and dedication.
Jago was president of UNBC for its first 11 years. He says the university, opened in 1994, had many things going for it but it did not have an adequate gymnasium.
“In the late 1990s, the university, the major athletic associations in the city and the city made an effort to realize this dream but circumstances defied their efforts,” recalls Jago in a retrospective about the genesis of the Northern Sports Centre that bears his name. “With B.C.’s bid to win the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, the dream was revived. Again the city, the university, the athletic associations from within Prince George and across northern B.C. worked together to develop the concept of a Northern Sports Centre. Now the concept has become a reality: a sports centre that in its size and capabilities, exceeds our dreams,” adds Jago.
The Northern Sports Centre certainly is much more than the average gymnasium. It’s roughly 61 metres long and 123 metres wide. The centre consumed about 3,500 cubic metres of concrete.
Among the exercise and training facilities it houses are two indoor soccer fields and the largest elevated indoor track in the province. It’s 280 metres long, with three lanes nine metres above the floor surface.
The Northern Sports Centre was built to the design of Chernoff Thompson Architects of Vancouver and Bryan Chernoff Thompson Architects of Prince George. Western Industrial Contractors Ltd., with head office in Prince George, was the centre’s project manager and contractor.
Western Industrial incorporated innovative techniques into the construction of the project.
A prime example was the use of self-compacting concrete pumped up from the base of each of the 12 metre tall structural columns. In what’s believed to be the first application of its kind in Canada, the self-levelling fluid concrete mix supplied by Inland Heidleberg Cement Group in Prince George sidestepped the need for compacting and reached its critical strength about four times faster than conventional concrete.
Western Industrial estimates the technique slashed construction time by about 30 days.
A visually impressive feature of the Northern Sports Centre is the bolted Behlen Corr-Span Roof System spanning 61 metres without support.
The curved roof was supplied and installed by Colony Buildings of Vancouver. Throughout the project, extensive use was made of local and regional sub contractors and suppliers.
The Charles Jago Northern Sports Centre is anticipated to become an important student recruitment tool.
About 4,200 students are attracted presently to the university per year. But the centre will also become a magnet for everyone in Prince George and surrounding areas interested in minor sports, becoming fitter as well as providing the advanced training facilities and assistance for top level athletes.
The B.C. government contributed $20.5 million to the cost of the Charles Jago Northern Sports Centre. The City of Prince George chipped in $5.125 million, including $1 million from the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George and $1.2 million from the Northern Development Initiatives Trust.
UNBC matched the $5.125 million including $500,000 from Canfor Corp., an integrated forest products company and $50,000 from Re/Max Centre City, a real estate firm.
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