Heather Wright/The Independent

After years of planning, a London contractor will begin work on the Watford Arena Expansion to Community Centre and Arena Renovations Project in a matter of weeks.

Warwick Council unanimously approved a $11,128,634 contract for the project which will see the arena redeveloped and a new community centre which will be home, in part, to a local Y facility.

Bronnenco Construction Ltd. won the contract for the project over four other contractors.
The highest bid for the project was $13.2 million. The top three bidders were within $500,000 of each other.

Theresa Klachan, Manager Parks and Recreation, will begin working with the contractors immediately.

“We go into development of contracts, we’ll get those done in probably about a week, and following that we will have our first site meeting.

“And following that we’ll start construction,” says Klachan. That could mean construction would begin in May.

Deputy Mayor Jerry Westgate says he was surprised Bronnenco was named the contractor adding he had not heard of them before this.

“A large company that has been around for 40 years,” she says.

“They are doing the Grand Theatre renovations in London; they have a history with Spriet.” Spriet is the engineering firm working with Warwick on the project.

Mayor Jackie Rombouts says this is a big moment for Warwick.

“When I started on council, that was the one project that I wanted to get done, and that was seven years ago, so to be able to see it coming to fruition is just so exciting.”

Rombouts says the timing was just right for the project to move forward particularly since the community recognizes the need to replace the aging Centennial Hall.

“We did a lot of community consultation, really making sure that this is something that the community wanted, before we made the decision to go ahead with the project.”
A survey done by Inspire Consultant says 100 per cent of the people who they talked to were in favour of the project.

Rombouts says it is possible the first construction at the arena will begin by May.