Starting late Friday night, the main bowl of the WFCU Centre will undergo a major transformation.
As soon as the Spitfires game against Sarnia ends, crews will start the work to build a pool for the FINA World Swimming Championships.
Don Sadler is the Infrastructure Project Manager in charge of the process.
He says the first thing they'll do is use the Zambonis to melt out the ice, then remove the boards.
Sadler says they'll have to use gravel and sand to fill some low spots like the player benches and penalty box to make everything the same grade.
He says after the floor is level, construction begins: "the frame for the pool is installed, then the pool itself, the pool walls go up and then the liner and while this is all going on we'll also be starting with the deck which goes out from the top of the 2-meter high pool to the 5th row of seats"
City of Windsor Infrastructure Project Manager Don Sadler looks at blueprints for FINA swimming WFCU renovations, Nov. 16, 2016 (Photo by AM800's Steve Bell)
Sadler says some of the work on the upper levels of the WFCU Centre will have to be started this week because they won't be able to use scissor lifts once the pool construction starts.
He says their goal is to have the pool structure completed so they can put in the water the week of November 28th, December 1st at the latest.
He says the pieces of the pool have just arrived from Montreal - having been manufactured in Italy - and all the filtration and heating equipment is in the area where the Zambonis usually park.
Sadler says the current boards will be replaced with new ones at the end to the FINA event.