Agri-food Hub and Trade Centre nearing completion, two years after groundbreaking

“The partners on this project have been what has made this possible,” said Warkentin. “What we’ve been able to pull off with all the challenges that the construction industry has faced over the past two years has been nothing short of a miracle.”

The venture, managed by Ward Bros. Construction, recently completed a 1,000 cubic meter concrete pour in the 104,000 square foot trade hall, which took four days to complete.

According to the Lethbridge & District Exhibition, the trade halls are the final major slab pour of the project, with all other areas of the building in the finishing stages.

Bill Scales, project director with Ward Bros. Construction, conveyed that 120 to 130 people are working on site each day, with more than 200,000 hours of labour contributed.

“It’s a tremendous amount of pride to be involved in a project like this, that our families are going to use for years to come,” said Scales.

The Agri-food Hub & Trade Centre is on track to open at the end of June 2023. (Photo: LNN on March 31, 2023)

Other major installations have fitted 262,000 square feet of metal decking, more than 1,600 metric tonnes of steel and 330 panes of glass.

Warkentin went on to detail that several pieces from the original exhibition grounds are being recycled into the new project.

“To build this site, we had to take down 225 trees from Henderson Campground as well as from our site,” said Warkentin. “What was important from the get-go of this project is that none of that went to waste, so we were actually able to recycle 10,000 board feet of wood from those trees and those will be up-cycled into the project.”

The Agri-food Hub & Trade Centre is on track to open at the end of June 2023. (Photo: LNN on March 31, 2023)

Wiring is also being run throughout the building to accommodate a state-of-the-art plug-and-play AV system that was funded by the federal government.

Warkentin states that without the $3.5 million dollar investment from PrairiesCan, the system would have been a fraction of what it is, which he suggests gives them a major competitive advantage over other buildings.

Additional funding for the facility has come from the Government of Alberta, Lethbridge County and the City of Lethbridge, who will maintain ownership of the land, and a 30-year loan has been secured against the future operations of the facility.

The Agri-food Hub & Trade Centre is on track to open at the end of June 2023. (Photo: LNN on March 31, 2023)

Earlier this month, officials with the Lethbridge & District Exhibition went before the Lethbridge Economic Standing Policy Committee (SPC) to ask for an additional $4,684,322 million to demolish the three existing pavilions on site.

While the project has experienced some budget setbacks in terms of removing the North, South and Main pavilions, Warkentin expressed his contentment with how they’ve kept the construction of the Agri-food Hub & Trade Centre on track.

“What we are exceptionally proud of is that we’ve been able to maintain a value per square foot significantly under other projects in Alberta and here in the City of Lethbridge. Yeah, it’s ran over, but we’ve found funding through other sources that aren’t traditionally funders.”

Once completed this spring, the Agri-food Hub & Trade Centre is expected to contribute more than $90 million annually to the regional economy.

The Agri-food Hub & Trade Centre has the capacity to hold up to 10,000 people at a time and will feature banquet halls, meeting rooms, a kitchen that will be able to service upwards of 1,500 people, a trade hall that can be sectioned off into four parts, and a public patio across from Henderson Lake.

Read more at LethbridgeNewsNow.com

by Sarah Jones

Agri-food Hub and Trade Centre nearing completion, two years after groundbreaking

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