A renovated gymnasium at l’Université de Moncton’s physical education and sports centre is one step closer to reality.
Provincial officials were on hand at the Centre d’éducation physique et des sports Louis-J.-Robichaud on Monday to announce $5 million in funding.
Part of that money will go toward gym renovations while the rest will be used to help plan a larger modernization and expansion of the centre’s facilities.
“The one major reason why we decided to help this project is two elements,” Jean-Claude D’Amours, the acting post-secondary education minister, told reporters following Monday’s announcement.
“The gymnasium needs to receive renovation. As we know, the Canada Games are coming to New Brunswick, so this is a major element.”
In addition, completing a cost estimate for the larger modernization and expansion project will help the university to secure funding partners for the work, said the minister.
Centre of excellence
The university wants to turn the 50-year-old facility into a centre of excellence where sport, health and education converge.
Some of the plans include reducing the size of the competition pool to 25 metres from 37 metres and creating a family pool area.
Also proposed are a next-generation ice rink, an indoor soccer stadium and a high-tech athletics stadium with a 200-metre track.
The vision also includes a modernized kinesiology school, which would feature cutting-edge facilities, dedicated spaces for rehabilitation and care, and state-of-the-art laboratories.
It is a project that university president Denis Prud’homme estimates will cost in the range of $130 million.
“As you know, construction costs are changing every day, so it could go up in a year or it could go down depending on the needs of the population,” Prud’homme told reporters.
Prud’homme said the provincial funding is a “critical step” toward building and renovating a dynamic and inclusive environment that will become an even more vital gathering place for Greater Moncton.
Officials hope work on the gymnasium renovations will begin this summer, so it is completed well before the 2029 Canada Summer Games.
There is no timeline yet for the larger modernization and expansion of the centre.
