Client
City of Abbotsford
Location
Abbotsford, BC
The Abbotsford Recreation Centre (ARC), one of the municipality’s highest‑emitting facilities, presented a major opportunity for carbon reduction. Building on a carbon‑elimination study completed by Prism Engineering, the City of Abbotsford initiated a large‑scale heat recovery and optimization project to reduce energy use, lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and modernize critical mechanical systems.
With multidisciplinary expertise in low‑carbon design, mechanical integration, and municipal facility decarbonization, Prism guided the City through concept development, system selection, and implementation of a transformative, multi‑phase solution. The project was funded through the Green and Inclusive Community Building Program and BC Growing Communities Fund and is now nearing completion.
Challenge
A high emitting facility with complex systems
ARC and the Matsqui Recreation Centre together account for half of the City of Abbotsford’s corporate building emissions. ARC alone rejects enough heat to meet its own heating needs most of the year—yet historically, that heat was wasted.
The City needed a technically sound and practical path to recover this energy, decarbonize the facility, and maintain reliable heating across interconnected spaces including the arena, aquatic centre, and the community recreation centre.
Integrating three facilities, coordinating multiple contractors, and aligning stakeholders created additional challenges. Early‑phase construction occurred in tight mechanical spaces, and equipment replacement, such as the failing natatorium air‑handling unit (AHU), required careful handling to maintain occupant comfort.
Solution
Heating systems integration approach
Following a detailed carbon‑elimination study, Prism evaluated four decarbonization pathways and recommended a Heating Systems Integration as this was the only solution capable of achieving a 73% GHG reduction. This approach connects heat recovery from the arena’s ice plant and the aquatic centre’s exhaust air into a new low‑temperature heating loop.
Left to right: Thermal storage tank and exterior/interior interconnecting piping at the Abbotsford Recreation Centre.
A six‑phase implementation strategy
The design introduced new heat recovery chillers, low‑temperature heat exchangers, retrofitted air‑handling units, and interconnection piping between buildings. Prism structured the work into six phases, beginning with natatorium upgrades and later expanding to integrate the aquatic centre, arena, and the community recreation centre systems.
The design included the replacement of the existing boiler plant with new high efficiency condensing boilers for backup and ensured year‑round heating resilience.
Outcome
Significant emissions reduction and cost savings
The work done by Prism at ARC is projected to deliver:
- 462 tCO₂e in annual GHG reductions (73% below 2019 levels)
- Substantial annual operating savings
Proving the value of integrated low‑carbon systems
ARC’s heat recovery and optimization project demonstrates the effectiveness of integrated mechanical design and early‑stage carbon planning. It positions the City of Abbotsford as a leader in low‑carbon recreation facilities and showcases Prism’s proven capability to implement complex municipal decarbonization projects from study to construction.
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