Saanich Commonwealth Place will be chilly next month.
Commonwealth will see services impacted with no hot water or heat in certain areas of the facility from April 3 to 21, as part of the boiler installation phase of the biomass mechanical system upgrade project
During this time, the recreation centre will be open with regular operating hours and a few temporary adjustments.
Those include a modified pool schedule with lower pool temperatures (which are expected to decrease over the time frame), the hot tub will be available as a cold plunge option and the tots’ pool will be closed.
Cleansing showers before entering the pools are still required and this water will be cold.
Daily pool water and air temperatures will be posted on the facility’s website during the boiler outage.
Dryland programming will continue as scheduled but the District of Saanich suggested attendees bring an extra layer of clothing as it may be cooler in some program spaces.
Weight room temperatures will not be impacted by the outage. Kattia’s Kitchen Cafe will also be open but with modified operations.
The next phase of the project includes assembling the boilers inside the mechanical room and connecting them to the existing heating system. This will require excavation at the back of the building for fuel storage.
Construction on the project – which will see the natural-gas-fuelled boilers converted to biomass-fed units – began last September and it is expected to be in full operation by this fall.
Saanich access pass holders who do not wish to use the facility during the outage are asked to speak with the reception team to pause the pass. The passes can be used at any of Saanich’s other three recreation centres. For facility schedules, go to saanich.ca/recreation.
ALSO READ: Saanich Commonwealth Place conversion to biomass fuel will dramatically cut GHGs
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