The City of Airdrie looks to welcome more recreation opportunities with the addition of a new recreation centre. Airdrie's population has seen significant growth and current recreation facilties are often operating at capacity during prime-time hours. In response, a quarter section of land was purchased in 2018 in partnership with Mattamy Homes and Rocky View School Division. The City acquired a 20.85 per cent share of the land for a new multi-purpose recreation centre to be located at the corner of Southwinds Boulevard and Southwinds Drive.

Council reviewed The Southwest Recreation Facility Pathway Forward For Airdrie: Phased Approach to Development of Facility Components and Amenities Summary Report (PDF). The report presented two thematic options for Phase I of the new centre: broadest community voiced needs and priorities or a sports focused use. On June 5, 2023, Council approved the recommendation of the Community Services Advisory Board (CSAB) to build the new SW recreation centre with an amenity focus that addresses the broadest community voiced needs and priorities found in the Indoor and Outdoor Recreation Needs Assessment Study. As such, Phase I of the centre will include leisure pools, a 25 m lane pool, fitness centre, supporting spaces and potential family play spaces. 

On February 5, 2024, Council reviewed a report, titled Arena Analysis Within SW Recreation Multi-Use Facility (PDF), for consideration of seating capacity arrangements at the future arenas and the impact to the over all site master plan for the centre.  

Information gathered through the recent site master planning engagement will be used alongside input from local sports groups, internal reviews and previous engagement to guide site master plan options to be taken before Council in Q2 2025. The endorsement by Council of a final site master plan will ultimately inform the scope of future design work and budget for all three phases of the SW Recreation Centre.

In 2021, GEC Architecture and HarGroup Management Consultants Inc. were commissioned by the City to conduct the Indoor and Outdoor Recreation Needs Assessment Study as part of the initial planning for a new multi-purpose recreation facility and regional park within the community. Information gathered for the study involved input from residents and stakeholders to understand the community's use of current recreation facilties. This information will be used to determine amenity interests and community expectations.

Learn more about the Recreation Needs Assessment Study 

In the late-fall of 2024, the City began engagement to gather insight on user group and resident perspectives for consideration in site master planning of the SW Recreation Centre. The information collected through an online survey, open house and sport user group interviews identified priorities for the future centre's use and will be considered alongside prior engagements and studies in formation of the facility layout, amenity components and supportive amenities development.

Learn more about the SW Recreation Centre site master planning engagement