Media Release
Planning Underway to incorporate Canada Games Field House into Mainland Common Master Plan
(Friday, February 23, 2007) - A state-of-the-art, multi-purpose field house is coming to the Mainland Common as a result of the Halifax Regional Municipality’s successful bid to host the 2011 Canada Winter Games.
"Great things are happening on the Mainland Common!" says Councillor Mary Wile (District 10 - Clayton Park West), a member of the 2011 Canada Winter Games Bid Committee. "In addition to having our dreams for a new Community Recreation Centre realized, we will now have the added bonus of a field house which will provide local athletes and the public with a place to train, exercise and enjoy the benefits of a healthy, active lifestyle."
Built to meet or exceed the national and international technical specifications for many different sports, the legacy field house will be a multi-purpose indoor recreation and sport environment where many activities can take place simultaneously. During the Canada Games, the field house will be home to table tennis and badminton. Afterwards, it is envisioned that the facility will become a multi-purpose venue for indoor recreational sports which could include indoor soccer, lacrosse, flag football, baseball/softball practice and basketball.
HRM staff are working to incorporate the benefits of the field house into the Master Plan for the Mainland Common to ensure the best possible experience for residents now and for generations to come. With its planned campus-style setting, the Master Plan for the160-acre, HRM-owned property (located on Thomas Raddall Drive off Lacewood Drive in Clayton Park) already includes a 57,000 square foot Community Recreation Centre, designed to replace the aging Northcliffe Recreation Centre and accommodate the area’s rapidly growing population.
Councillor Debbie Hum (District 16 - Rockingham - Wentworth), who was also a member of the Canada Games Bid Committee stated, “Councillor Wile and I were confident in presenting Mainland Common to the Canada Games Council's bid evaluation committee as the proposed site of the legacy field house. With the lack of existing recreational facilities in Mainland North, and being one of the fastest growing areas of HRM, in close proximity to major transportation corridors and infrastructure, the Mainland Common was the ideal location.”
“Pairing a field house with our new Community Recreation Centre will give us the flexibility of doing things we've never been able to do before and it will be capable of accommodating a wish list of new uses,” says Hum.
The field house and the Community Recreation Centre will complement existing developments on the Common which include the new Halifax West High School, the Keshen Goodman Library, Subway Soccer Facility and a number of outdoor recreation areas including the All Weather Field, Softball, the Linear Trail, Volleyball and a Baseball diamond.
"The addition of a field house will make the Mainland Common a true family destination,” said Councillor Russell Walker (District 15 - Fairview - Clayton Park).“It will be a place where all residents, regardless of their age, ability, race, religion, ethnicity, social, cultural and economic background, can gather to be active, learn, relax, rejuvenate and socialize with their neighbours."
For more information on the Mainland Common, residents can visit www.halifax.ca/mainlandcommon .
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Councillor Mary Wile (District 10 - Clayton Park West)
Halifax Canada Games Bid Committee
(902) 490-7028
Councillor Debbie Hum (District 16 - Rockingham Wentworth)
Halifax Canada Games Bid Committee
(902) 490-6807
Councillor Russell Walker (District 15 - Fairview - Clayton Park)
(902) 443-8010
