Dec 1, 2015 — Halifax Regional Municipality has awarded a $40.7-million contract to design and build a four-pad arena in Dartmouth.Regional council approved a city staff recommendation Tuesday to award the contract to EllisDon Corp., which beat out two other bids from Buttcon Ltd. & Sportstar Capital Inc. and from Marco Maritimes Ltd. and Canlan Ice Sports Corp.Construction on the facility, on Commodore Drive next to the all-weather fields, is slated to begin in the new year and be ready for public use by September 2017."This is regional facility, and so it's great for the entire east region and, in fact, for the entire municipality," said Coun. Bill Karsten (Dartmouth South-Eastern Passage).A substantial part of the debate Tuesday centred around enhancements to the facility that city staff are not recommending be included in the design.EllisDon proposed to include an increase to the structural design load for snow and ice at a cost of $790,000 and a rooftop viewing platform overlooking the all-weather fields for another $400,000.Read the full article from the Herald News HERE