Dalhousie University board of governors approve building new on-campus arena

Dalhousie’s board of governors announced Tuesday that it has voted in favour of building a new Dalhousie Event Centre on campus.

In an e-mail sent to Dal’s community, the executive director of athletics and recreation, Tim Maloney, said the centre is currently in the development phase.

The new centre will bring a new arena and community recreation facility to Halifax’s Studley Campus. It will be built behind LeMarchant Place in the same location as the former Memorial Arena, which was torn down in 2012.

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“All of Dalhousie’s ice-related activities have been operating out of the Halifax Forum since then and we’ve seen a significant decline in program participation and offerings for students,” Maloney said.

The new centre aims to change that as it will provide an on-campus home for student ice-related programming, varsity athletics, and the broader Dal community.

The centre will also have a physiotherapy clinic and event spaces.

While still in the development phase, Maloney said design plans will be developed in the coming months to be issued for an external design-build competition with an initial targeted opening date in the fall of 2023.

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