(rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

this way!

$300,000 in signage coming for Culture Services building

Jan 16, 2020 | 7:09 PM

It will soon be easier to find one’s way into the City of Red Deer’s new home for its Culture Services department.

This week, city council approved one final capital project for the year that was deferred from Capital Budget debate back in November.

For the $305,400 the City will install enhanced signage and wayfinding for a smoother experience in entering the building. There will also be the installation of pageantry and other treatments including changing the actual name of the building.

As pointed out by Shelley Gagnon, Recreation, Parks and Culture manager, the building still says ‘Intermediate School.’

“The accessible entrance to the building is on the northeast side, which isn’t highly visible,” she says. “We don’t have any exterior signage that points people that way or helps people find their way around the plaza to the two entrances.”

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The improvements come after the downtown building was renovated ahead of the 2019 Canada Winter Games, including gutting the first, third and fifth floors. Culture Services is on the first and third, while the fifth remains in a tenant improvement state.

The side with those floors was wood-based and built in 1949.

The other side, which is steel-based and built in 1965, contains the second and fourth floors. They were originally slated for renovations in 2020, however council was hesitant so pushed that portion of the project back. The cost would have been an additional $3 million.

Last year, the City received feedback from a resident about the building’s perceived lack of accessibility at the front entrance. Gagnon says she hasn’t heard any further issues, but explains why they aren’t adding accessibility features to that area of the building.

“Once inside the front entrance, you’d have to go up more stairs, so to make that an accessible entrance would’ve significantly impacted the front feature of the building, and it’s a historical building as well, so we wanted to maintain as much of that look as we could,” she says.

“What we had to do was construct a brand new entrance on the north side to provide an accessible entrance to the first, third and fifth.”

Gagnon says that location is more ideal for an accessible entrance anyway because it is the closest entrance to the road.