How to Start a Community Ice Arena
Do you have dreams of bringing a rink to your community?
Seeing toddlers lace up skates for the first time and find a love for ice? Cheering on kids as they go head to head with their rival team? Watching neighbors and old teammates dust off their skates and join the rec league? This and so much more is possible when ice time is available; there are just a few steps to get from these dreams to building an ice arena.
The Process
Some of the very first, and most important steps are done right within your community. Garner and gauge the interest and support of fellow ice enthusiasts; together, create a vision of the type of rink and recreation center that meets the skating and recreation needs of your community. Think about things like seating capacity, skating capability, program types, revenue generating amenities, location, and more.
“Ice skating is such an incredible community asset. It’s unique and adds to the community’s diversity—soccer, baseball, ice skating—the more recreation options that are available, the better it is for any community.”
- Wendi Cool, President of VC Ice Sports
With that in mind, establish an initial budget and timeline to help define goals and expectations. At this point, you’re ready to find a rink architect with passion, experience, and commitment.
Ice Arena Construction and InVision
As we partner on projects, our first step is to understand the wants-and-needs-list for the rink and help you create clarity. This is the start of InVision - our planning process. InVision begins with a Programming Session, which establishes the pieces of your project puzzle. Following Programming is the Feasibility Study, where we create a conceptual design of the site plan and floor plan to help see how the proposed spaces could fit on the proposed site. In other words, the Feasibility Study arranges the pieces of the puzzle into a design that works best for you. Once we have a design we put together a preliminary budget and schedule.
Custom Ice Arena Design & Construction
At this point in the ice arena construction process, you’ll be set with the basic information you need (design, budget, and schedule) to move into the next step of bringing your dream arena to reality: fundraising and municipal approvals. This work brings you back into your community, enabling you to get the support, funds, and approvals needed to start the constructing of your arena.
When you’re ready to build, we’ll be ready to jump into drawings, vendor coordination, engineering services, project management and construction administration - which is really the part of the project where you get to see your dream come to life. Ice rink construction is a labor of love, with a payoff of an unbelievably valuable community asset ready for skaters of all ages to enjoy.
