Rink Of Dreams

Morley Hoppner joined the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Senators to design and build the new Rink of Dreams, located at Ottawa City Hall at 110 Laurier Street. The Rink of Dreams was a partnership involving the Ottawa Senators, the Ottawa Senators Foundation, the City of Ottawa, the Hockey Canada Foundation, and Morley Hoppner, with other contributions from the local construction community. Morley Hoppner was the construction manager for the project, donating its project management services.

Unlike the Rideau Canal, the Rink of Dreams isn’t weather dependent. It’s a 12,500 sq. ft. refrigerated ice surface maintained by an on-site Zamboni, as well as acrylic see-through dasher boards that feature special LED lighting to allow for night skating. The rink is open for skating from November through March each winter, and also serves as a community space through the spring and summer months. Completed in 2011 ahead of the 2012 NHL All-Star Game, the project was the result of a collaborative process with Ottawa City Hall staff, delivered under tight timelines just eight short months after planning began.

The Rink of Dreams was the first of 20 outdoor ice surfaces committed to being constructed by the Senators Foundation to provide youth in priority neighbourhoods across the region with facilities that encourage active living and programming during critical after-school hours. It was also built to minimize the impact on events and festivals hosted on Marion Dewar plaza during the summer while providing a skating destination for residents and city visitors during the winter at the same time. The rink is the second-largest community project ever undertaken by the Senators Foundation, trailing only Roger Neilson House in terms of its scope, a project that was also managed by Morley Hoppner under a similar donation program.