The Vermilion Valley Lodge held an open house to discuss their construction project plans with the public on November 4.

“We have been working on the architectural designs for the last three months, and we aim to be completed all of the engineer drawings just before Christmas and looking to tender in January. Construction will be starting in March. Our project scale is a replacement of 50 units on site. It was an important and logistical challenge not moving residents off site,” said Valley Lodge Architect Cory Leniuk.

“It is a new modern facility. The accessibility of the whole facility will be greatly increased. We have observed a growing demand for senior’s accommodation all across the province,” added Leniuk.

Valley Lodge CAO Sheri Heller said that she is excited that plans are finally underway.

“We are excited to make the changes for the future for the next 50 years. We need it, the original building was built in the 1960s, and it is really outdated, some of the rooms have half-baths and don’t have the proper washing facilities. It is time now to look after the new generation of people we have,” said Heller.

“It is a huge project costing $12.25 million. If all runs according to the schedule, we are looking at being fully completed by June/July 2018. We are losing 50 rooms in what we are tearing down, and we are building 50 new rooms. We will have 84 rooms when all of the construction is finished in 2018.”

(From left) Valley Lodge Reconstruction Architect Cory Leniuk, Valley Lodge CAO Sheri Heller and Structural Engineer Tim Cartmell discuss the grand design and reconstruction of the Valley Lodge rebuild at an Open House on November 4.

Grand Designs on the display gave a preview of what the finished project should look like. Construction is due to commence in March 2017.

Photos Marie Conboy