Kitchener building one of the greenest recreational facilities in Canada
March 24, 2025
If you’re someone who lives in or around Kitchener, you’re about to have a new favourite place to hang out.
Set to open in the summer of 2026, the Kitchener indoor recreation complex at RBJ Schlegel Park is set to become a go-to destination for sports, fitness and community activities. Best of all, it will be the city’s first net-zero carbon building.
Approved for construction by Kitchener City Council in 2024, the complex is being designed to inspire active living and community connections.
Of particular note, it will feature:
A community and tournament-sized indoor turf fieldhouse. Divisible into four individual fields, it will be available for soccer, cricket, football, lacrosse and more.
An indoor aquatic center featuring a warm-water leisure pool and an eight-lane competition pool, with spacious viewing galleries.
An elevated walking track, offering a full view of the indoor turf facility.
Cricket batting cages for practice and training.
Multipurpose rooms offering flexible spaces for community events and celebrations.
A quad gymnasium for sports such as basketball, volleyball, badminton and pickleball.
Phase 1 of the gymnasium is part of the current project, and the City is seeking federal and provincial funding to complete Phase 2.
Sustainable fun
The 222,000 square foot complex will feature advanced geothermal heating and cooling systems, and the City’s largest solar array, reducing carbon emissions by 43 tonnes per year and saving the City approximately $190,000 in utility costs annually.
Kitchener is using a collaborative construction model known as Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), a new and innovative approach for an infrastructure project of this magnitude – integrating collaborative design and LEAN construction principles. This will allow more certainty on costs and timelines than traditional project delivery methods.
“The Kitchener Indoor Recreation Complex is a game-changer,” says Mayor Berry Vrbanovic. “This new recreation facility is being designed as one of the most sustainable recreation facilities in Canada while also using a new IPD model that helps us to build on time and on budget.”
Groundbreaking event on May 31, 2024
With unanimous support from City Council, the groundbreaking occurred on May 31, 2024, followed by the start of construction in June.
The project is supported by a range of funding sources, including federal, provincial and municipal, demonstrating the power of partnership between all orders of government, in a manner that will have no impact on municipal taxes. When the site is ready to open its doors, visitors can rest assured that the turf won’t be the only green thing about the building!