Backgrounder: UVic, community celebrate CARSA’s foundation for the future

CARSA will be the university’s first major athletics and recreation facility in over 30 years, and will be a valued community asset.

Key features include:

• new gymnasium with more than 2,000 seats;
• 18-metre climbing tower;
• yoga studio;
• rowing centre;
• state-of-the-art fitness and weight-training space;
• sports injury clinic;
• multi-purpose field house;
• squash and racquetball courts; and
• for CanAssist, new offices, labs and a machine shop.

CanAssist at the University of Victoria is dedicated to helping people with disabilities improve their quality of life, with a focus on promoting independence and inclusion. It is unique to North America in being a university organization that provides exceptional student learning opportunities in the context of developing and delivering customized technologies, programs and services for people living with disabilities.

Once CARSA is complete, UVic’s School for Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education will move into the vacated space in the McKinnon Building. Within the new CARSA, a kinesiology student might implement a fitness-training program; a P.E. student could teach elementary school children; and a recreation-studies student might work with a particular client on the climbing wall. These are examples of how CARSA could help support experiential learning, making the new facility another extension of the UVic classroom.

Athletics and recreation:

• UVic’s Department of Athletics—one of the top programs in Canada—develops national team athletes and future Olympians and Paralympians. UVic Vikes continue to rank in the top five for number of Canadian Interuniversity Sport team championships won;
• In addition to 71 Canadian team championships, Vikes competitors have had 338 athletes named CIS All-Canadians, 158 compete at the Olympic or Paralympic Games, and have produced an athletic heritage inspiring the efforts of today’s student athletes.
• Vikes Recreation at UVic offers a number of community programming opportunities and facility rental access to numerous local groups, and currently provides facilities for an estimated 11,200 intramural athletes as well as 6,000 clubs and special program participants. There are currently an estimated 372,000 user-card swipes per year at the existing fitness and weight centre.

Campbell Construction Ltd. was awarded the $58,627,667.23 contract (announced Feb. 2013) to build the centre and parkade, with construction providing 580 direct and indirect jobs locally. The total project will provide close to 760 direct and indirect jobs. UVic's total project budget for the CARSA facility and adjacent parkade is $77 million. Occupancy is targeted for spring 2015.

Interesting facts and figures:

• CARSA floor space: more than 17,685 m2 (approx. 190,000 ft2) (equivalent to three football fields);
• Volume of concrete to be used: 13,200 m2 (466,000 cu.ft.) (equivalent to filling approx. 1300 concrete trucks);
• Amount of reinforcing steel: 1,310 metric tonnes (2.9 million pounds) (equivalent to filling 55 semi-trailer trucks).

Visit the website for more information on CARSA: www.uvic.ca/carsa.