Lloydminster city council approved a $544,050 contract Monday to tear down the old Centennial Civic Centre.
Silverado Demolition Operations Inc. won the bid, which excludes GST. Council also approved a 15 per cent contingency allowance of $81,607.50, excluding GST, to cover cost overruns.
James Rogers, with the city’s Operations department, presented the recommendation to council.
The Centennial Civic Centre opened in 1966 at 5405 49 Avenue. It stopped operating after the Cenovus Energy Hub opened in fall 2025.
“Something’s gonna get missed”
Councillor Jim Taylor said he was relieved by the price, and worried by it at the same time.
“I’m pretty excited to see the amount to be quite a bit lower than what we were expecting you to present for demolition of the building.”
“On top of that, I’m also pretty darn scared just looking at the amount that something’s gonna get missed in doing this,” said Taylor.
Rogers said the city always follows up when a bid comes in well below the others.
“Our standard process would be to contact that bidder, ensure they understand the scope, ensure they understand our expectations, ensure that they have every addendum,” said Rogers.
“We’ve worked with Silverado in the past. They are very confident in the scope of work and confident in their price to get it done.”
What “clean, safe and usable” means
Taylor pressed Rogers on what the site would actually look like once the work is done.
Rogers said every contractor bid on the same standard, which includes removing piles two metres below grade, all piping, mechanical and electrical equipment, on-site equipment and hazardous material.
“That includes all parking lot is gone. So all asphalt is gone and restored to a clay state,” said Rogers.
“The building is gone, foundations are gone. The footings are gone. The ice pad is gone. Everything is gone. And we restore the hole with engineered clay fill so that it could be sold and developed immediately thereafter.”
Taylor asked if that meant grass, the pad and trees would all disappear too.
Rogers said the city plans to keep some greenery.
“On the front side along 49 Avenue, we are gonna try to leave as much grass in as possible,” said Rogers.
“We are going to leave the trees in on the side right across from the golf course, and right across from the entrance, we are gonna try to leave as many of those trees in place as possible. That helps with aesthetics, but it also helps with erosion.”
Good wood, gone to the landfill
Taylor also asked about the building’s monument signage, and about the wooden beams inside the concourse and roof.
A city staff member said the signage will come down before demolition starts.
“It is still the intent to take it off the front of the building. We’ve been tackling a lot of activities to basically get to where we’re at, and that’s on the to-do list for summer.”
City crews, not the demolition contractor, will remove the signage themselves.
Deputy Mayor Jason Whiting later asked directly whether any of the building’s wood could be saved.
“There’s a lot of nice wood in that facility, both in the entrance and even,” said Whiting. “Is there any repurposing of the wood that is in there? And is there anything being done with it?”
Rogers said the city looked into it, and the cost didn’t work out.
“One of the things that we talked about when we were putting together our scope of work was reviewing what would be the additional cost to gently remove the wooden beams, crane them off the building, stockpile them, try to salvage them, try to sell them,” said Rogers.
“The dollars and cents just didn’t add up. It’s too slow, it’s too labour intensive, and additional equipment is needed.”
“Unfortunately, the wood beams that we see in the concourse as well as in the roof structure will be demolished and sent to the landfill,” Rogers said.
City staff said the building’s historical items have already found new homes. The trophy cabinets have been repainted and will move to the Cenovus Energy Hub and other facilities, along with kitchen equipment and other fixtures.
“Pretty much without being silly, the kitchen sink and everything’s coming along,” a staff member told council.
Sorting the debris
Rogers said the city expects demolition to start in late August or early September, once remaining equipment like the ice plant and a rooftop water meter station are removed.
Hazardous materials will be pulled out and disposed of separately before the building comes down, he said.
“That will essentially be an afternoon’s worth of work. And then the rest of the work is sifting, sorting and hauling to the landfill,” said Rogers.
“We aren’t anticipating a large amount of dust, noise or air pollution from bringing the civic centre to the ground.”
Concrete, asphalt and wood will go to the city landfill, sorted into separate piles. Steel and copper piping will be pulled out for recycling. Hazardous waste will go to specialized disposal sites under contract.
Rogers said nearby residents on 49 Avenue and 45 Street will get notice of the construction schedule once the contract with Silverado is finalized.
Clay from two other city projects
Councillor Justin Vance asked about clay being hauled to the site to backfill the hole left behind.
Rogers said most of it is coming from two other city projects at no extra cost to taxpayers.
“Most of the clay that’s going to go back into the hole is coming from the development of Lake K, which is behind the Cenovus Energy Hub,” said Rogers.
“We also have our water and sewer replacement program going on right now on 50 Avenue. As part of that work, we are generating excess clay from that project, and it needs to go somewhere.”
“We did not have to buy clay material, which is a huge cost savings to the city and our taxpayers,” Rogers said.
Vance noted the bids all came from out-of-town contractors.
“There was, so there was no, none of those look like local contractors. They were all out of town,” said Vance.
Rogers said that’s typical for a project this size.
“Given the size of the project, the demolition, we traditionally see these go out to these larger, unfortunately, out-of-town demolition and recycling contractors,” said Rogers. “It is specialized work, no different than paving or underground.”
What’s next for the site
Councillor David Lopez raised an idea from a group of New Canadians who had asked him whether the parking lot would stay, and whether the space could serve as a temporary cricket field once the building is gone.
A city official told council the land hasn’t been listed for sale yet, but that’s about to change.
“We haven’t put it on the market. I think now that we’ve hit the milestone of the building coming down, we can bring back some options for council to consider,” the official said.
“We have received a couple letters of interest in the land, both from a donation and a purchasing perspective.”
Council approved the contractor award and contingency allowance on a motion from Lopez, seconded by Taylor. The motion carried.
Read more: End of the road for Civic Centre as no buyer found
