Toronto, ON

CIBC Pan Am / Parapan Am Aquatics Centre

The Pan Am and Parapan Am Aquatics Centre is an aquatics facility constructed at the University of Toronto (Scarborough) for the 2015 Pan American Games. The facility was completed in July 2014, a year before the scheduled games. The 6,000 seat aquatics arena hosted diving, swimming, synchronized swimming and the swimming segment of the pentathlon.

Our Role

Walters Inc. worked with an industry partner to supply and install all structural and AESS steel for the facility.

Facts & Figures

Diving, swimming, synchronized swimming, and the swimming segment of the pentathlon were held here during 2015 Pan American Games
6,000 seat arena
Project size was 3300 tonnes of structural steel
Completion date July 2014

Overcoming Challenges

Many of the challenges on this project concerned time and logistics. We began with a very tight schedule, which was made more challenging by a number of client-driven adjustments and modifications.

In addition, the crane used to install trusses and other structural steel had to be located at the bottom of a hole that later became an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Not only did this create additional lift distances, but thanks to an exceptionally rainy spring, the hole often filled with mud that had to be cleared. Despite these challenges, along with generally very tight quarters and a minimal laydown area, we were able to complete the project weeks ahead of schedule.

Perspectives

Structural Engineers

This centre required 250-foot long trusses to traverse the main pool. These were the longest trusses ever created by Walters Group. In addition, the client requested that each truss be fabricated with an 8-inch pre-camber to account for deflection in the installed position.

We fabricated the trusses in segments, used a high-performance coating system to minimize maintenance costs, and did trial fittings in our Hamilton facility. We also conducted a lift engineering study to ensure that each truss could be raised to the roof using a single hook point without flexing, bending or collapsing.

We shop-assembled as many elements as possible and planned out all connections to make the install as quick as possible.