Everything will be safe under the dome, Barrett assures

By Craig Westcott

CBS council is having no second thoughts about its decision to use an inflatable dome as the main structure for the new community centre slated for the Gateway in Kelligrews, says councillor-at-large Joshua Barrett.
Since council announced its plans earlier this year for the $16-million, 100,000 square foot sports and community complex, some skeptics have raised questions about the long term viability of such a structure and even whether the air quality inside a plastic building will be safe. More eyebrows were raised in February after a 75-cm snowfall in Quebec squashed a sports dome at Concordia University and tore a big hole through a similar dome in Laval.
“What I would say to that is this is the first of its kind in the province and I can appreciate that folks would have questions,” Barrett said. “I would have questions too. This is a very new concept. But you see these types of structures happening across Canada and North America. We did site tours in locations specific to the weather and climate in these areas and the winds and those types of things. The nature of the dome is that once you’re inside the dome there’s such an air pressure that if there is a big gust of wind, given how much air pressure is actually in the dome, it’s resilient against those storms. In PEI this winter, even during some of the extreme weather events that they’ve had, their dome has withstood those types of weather conditions. And so certainly there has been inquiries about that, but a lot of it has just been interest and trying to get the information (out) that we have in terms of what’s going to be there, and those types of things… The dome will be uniquely designed to fit the weather and climate in Newfoundland and Labrador and Conception Bay South specifically. The engineers will take all that into account and develop a design that can withstand those conditions. So, snow, rain, wind, it will be designed to withstand all those elements.”
Barrett said the dome will also be properly ventilated to make sure there is no danger from plastic particulates.
“That’s part of the design, to ensure that there’s appropriate ventilation and circulation,” he said. “That was one of the questions I had when I went there in person exploring it… There’s no human health risk or anything like that in terms of plastic particles. That’s all taken into account in the design.” 
Prep work on the dome site, which is located across the street from Kent Building Supplies off Legion Road where the Town has held bulk garbage drop-offs, will begin this year.
“It’s exciting days in Conception Bay South,” Barrett said.