Edmonton Rowing Club celebrates new digs
By Chris O'leary, FreelanceSeptember 27, 2009
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Edmonton Rowing Club's new boathouse
Edmonton Rowing Club's new boathouse
Photograph by: Chris Schwarz, The Journal, Freelance
For the tightly knit group that makes up the Edmonton Rowing Club, it's almost too fitting that they had so much help from within when it came to the construction of their new boathouse.
Both the house's architect, Rob Swart, and the head of construction, PCL's vice-president Scott Matheson, are members of the Edmonton Rowing Club. Both men were celebrated on Saturday during the club's regatta, where the boathouse underwent its grand-opening ceremony.
"We were fortunate," said Jack Bennett, a longtime member of the ERC in varying capacities. He served as the MC for Saturday's event. "If you're going to do something major like build something like this in the river valley, you need a certain level of knowledge in the group that's coming to do it. If you don't have that level of knowledge, it's difficult to get it accomplished."
Swart, who is also the ERC's president, admitted that his and Matheson's professions helped once the club was able to break ground on the project.
"If I wasn't an architect, I would have had to spend a lot of money going out and getting an architect," he said. "And then also having PCL there, it was really helpful.
"PCL was very supportive in terms of the people's time in going through that sort of process. Their site superintendent was very great to work with, he was very flexible. We added an office and made a few other changes without any difficultly."
The boathouse will hold six eight-plus boats and 18 four-, two-and one-person boats each, bringing inside a number of boats that have sat outdoors on stretchers through winters past.
Mayor Stephen Mandel; city councillors Linda Sloan and Karen Leibovici; Rob Smyth, the City of Edmonton's manager of community facility services; and the Alberta government's minister of culture and community spirit, Lindsay Blackett; were among government officials on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Two former Olympians and ERC members in Andrew Hoskins and his sister Zoe were on hand as well. Andrew said that the boathouse will be able to let the club's membership grow. In turn, the club is hopeful that it will produce more high-calibre athletes in the future.
"(The boathouse is) going to give a lot more opportunity and bring a lot more to this club," Andrew said. "It's going to make a big difference in keeping everyone on the competitive level and also just to make a legitimate use of the river valley. Most people don't know that we're here."
Though simple enough in its design --the boathouse looked like a big, empty warehouse on Saturday as it waited for the Tuesday arrival of the boat racks that will fill it up--the process of getting the house built was an arduous one.
"My joke is it took us four years to plan and four months to build," said Swart.
A combination of the logistics of building a new structure in a green space, escalating land costs and the club's ability to fundraise led to the goal of building a new boathouse taking on a life of its own. The concept was first pursued in the 1990s. Mandel helped get things moving in the right direction about two years ago.
"I want to congratulate the rowing club for their persistence...over the years in getting this project together," Mandel said in his speech. "It took a long time but it's magnificent and you should be very proud."
With an improving facility -- a new dock and approach are slated to come in a year's time, in addition to the addition of full-time coaches and club managers--Swart is confident that the ERC has a bright future.
"I think we've got the foundation here to build a winning Olympic team," he said.
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
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