In the late 1940’s, a group of dedicated curlers made the decision that Victoria needed a curling club.  With the City of Victoria providing a building site but without government funding, they combined their time, talent, and treasure to envisage, design and construct the Victoria Curling Club (VCC), and what a club it has become!

Dating back to 1958, VCC played host to the Brier, and more recently, was the venue for the 2005 and 2013 World Men’s Curling Championships as well as the 2009 Scott Tournament of Hearts. For seven decades, VCC has been the hub of countless recreational and competitive curlers creating the camaraderie and community that has lasted throughout the years. Today, the club has over 1,000 competitors in twenty-six recreational leagues and programs.

Fast forward 70+ years and VCC curlers are faced with the same decision that their curling ancestors made – to ensure curling for future generations. The imperative for renewal was punctuated by a dehumidifier failure in 2022 and while resources were “found” for repair, it became evident that VCC was one major equipment failure from oblivion.

With the club’s building resting on City land, the first step to ensuring our future was to renew our lease that had lapsed some 10 years previously.  Following an 18-month negotiation a lease was signed in May of 2023.  Secondly, we had to assure ourselves that the building was safe and to understand the size and nature of the challenge of renewal.  An Architectural team including Electrical, Structural and Mechanical engineers was contracted to provide an overview of the facility and to identify the key risks.  The results indicated that while the building itself was sound, it was clear that the ice plant’s mechanical and electrical systems were past their life expectancy and represented a significant risk to delivering curling. In addition, there were numerous building repairs and renovations required to provide a safe and welcoming environment for our members and the public.  The entire cost estimate was $10 million with critical infrastructure representing half of that.

To fund these changes, VCC initiated an approach to deal with critical and immediate needs but also to ensure that there was an ongoing source of funds for repairs, renovations and a contingency fund for this 70-year-old facility.  Curling fees were increased to ensure annual surpluses of $50,000, an aggressive approach to grant applications (this past year totaling over $2.7 million) and a fundraising campaign ($200,000 to date) were initiated.

The specific plan moving forward focuses on ensuring the longevity of Curling.  Our first project will be to renew the ice-making equipment.  While doing this and with the support of Infrastructure Canada’s Green and Inclusive Buildings initiative, we envisage eliminating the safety risk of ammonia by changing refrigerants and capturing the waste heat from the ice plant to replace the natural gas boilers that heat the clubhouse.  With replacing the windows and better insulation and sealing between the clubhouse and the arena, we will reduce our carbon footprint by over 95% and our energy consumption by 65%.  This also provides air conditioning throughout the facility allowing both summer and winter use.

Two additional projects are being planned within the five-year project period.  The refrigerated floor in the arena has been leaking in recent years and we need to move from a litany of repairs to a renovation.  Whether this entails floor replacement itself or by renewing the brine delivery system is still being investigated.  Secondly, accessibility and safety are significant issues with 4 floors and 8 staircases in the building.  We need an elevator to reach the three floors in the clubhouse, an accessible route to the ice surface, improved emergency escape routes from the lounge and accessible washrooms.  With the current support for accessibility in government, we anticipate that this latter project may get support through various grants.

While much of the emphasis of VCC has been on its modernization, curling opportunities have remained the key element of club operations.  Adult Learn to Curl programs over the years have trained close to 300 new curlers and have provided curlers for the new rookie league and the club generally.  Curling outreach to schools and the public remains active and new programs to revitalize youth curling and recruit seniors have been initiated.  Finally, VCC has celebrated its success in competition by creating a High-Performance Institute and partnering with Curl BC as a regional training hub.

This fall, VCC formally launched our “Rebuild Our House” fundraising campaign.  At our launch event in late September, the Victoria Curling Legacy Foundation helped kick start the campaign with the commitment of $100,000 in funds.  The VCC Circle of Friends have contributed a further $60,000 to $80,000 to help cover the initial project costs.  Further details on the campaign can be found at: https://victoriacurlingclub.com/rebuild-our-house