The BMO Centre: Recreation for the City of London
The London Optimist Sports Centre, later named the BMO Centre, began as an effort to transform a former rail property near London’s iconic Western Fair District into a year‑round indoor sports destination. Callidus Engineering designed the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection systems for the new 100,000 square foot building. The program included a full‑size indoor soccer field that could be divided into smaller play areas, a raised walking track, change rooms, meeting spaces, washrooms, and a full-service concession.
Several years later, strong demand and consistent community use prompted a major expansion. Callidus Engineering was engaged once again to design the building systems for the addition, creating a seamless extension of the existing facility while meeting updated code and performance requirements. The two phases together form a long‑standing partnership that supported the growth of one of London’s most active recreation hubs.
Design Team
This achievement was made possible by our talented design team:
Mechanical
Mechanical
Electrical
Project Manager
Our Clients: Hayman Construction & London Optimist Sports Centre
Hayman Construction led the original development, bringing more than a century of building experience to a challenging brownfield site. As one of the region’s longest‑standing contractors, they combined practical constructability insight with steady project leadership, helping the team turn an ambitious indoor sports concept into a working facility. Their early involvement and coordination across trades supported clear decisions, predictable progress, and a finished building that continues to perform for the community.
For the later expansion, Callidus Engineering was engaged directly by the London Optimist Sports Centre. As a not‑for‑profit organization dedicated to strengthening community access to sport, LOSC has played a central role in shaping indoor recreation in London. Their commitment to creating safe, flexible, and welcoming athletic environments drove the design of the addition, ensuring the expanded facility could support growing programs, higher usage, and year‑round activity.
BMO Centre Challenges and Opportunities
The original development required converting a challenging brownfield site into a fully conditioned indoor sports complex with large open spans and significant ventilation demands. The program combined athletic spaces with public amenities, creating a need for coordinated airflow, temperature control, and durable systems capable of managing high occupancy levels. The concession introduced additional requirements for specialty equipment, exhaust, plumbing, and power distribution.
When planning for the later expansion began, the design team focused on creating a seamless connection between the existing building and the new field space. Updated mechanical and electrical systems were introduced to support revised program areas, new circulation paths, and expanded occupancy. Integrating new air handling units, revised duct layouts, updated lighting strategies, and expanded fire and life safety systems required close coordination to maintain continuity with the existing building while supporting modern performance expectations.
The expansion phase also introduced new compliance requirements under SB‑10, prompting detailed mechanical and electrical submissions and adjustments to ventilation and service water heating strategies. These updates ensured the addition met current energy performance standards while maintaining operational consistency across the combined facility.
BMO Centre Technical Highlights
Mechanical Highlights
- HVAC systems for large-volume field halls, walking track, changerooms, meeting rooms, and support areas, including custom outdoor air units, energy recovery, and high-capacity air distribution to manage variable occupancy.
- Complete plumbing design for washrooms, changerooms, janitorial spaces, concession, and new program areas, including domestic water, sanitary, and vent systems across both the original build and the expansion.
- Service water heating systems sized and configured to meet fixture demands while satisfying Ontario SB‑10 energy efficiency requirements for the combined facility.
- Fire protection support for the sprinklered building, including sprinkler zoning for the addition and coordination with the sprinkler contractor and authority requirements.
- Natural gas service and load planning for heating equipment and concession appliances, including revised loads and connections associated with the 2016–2018 addition.
- Expansion-phase upgrades to air handling, HRV and exhaust fan locations, duct layouts, and control sequences to integrate new field space and second-floor rooms with the existing building.
Electrical Highlights
- Power distribution systems for the original facility and the expansion, including panelboards, feeders, and branch circuits sized to support field halls, support spaces, concession equipment, and building systems with capacity for future growth.
- Interior lighting for fields, walking track, changerooms, meeting rooms, and circulation spaces, coordinated with usage patterns and ceiling heights, along with code‑compliant exit and emergency lighting.
- Exterior and site lighting to support safe access around the building, including parking and pedestrian routes connected to the expanded footprint.
- Electrical connections for all major mechanical equipment and ventilation systems, coordinated with the mechanical design and integrated into the expanded distribution layout.
- Fire alarm system design for the original facility and the expansion, including new devices, updated zoning, booster power supplies, annunciation functions, and integration with the combined building’s life safety systems.
- Provisions for communication, data, and control infrastructure routed with the electrical design to support day‑to‑day operations and future technology upgrades.
Community Impact
More than a decade after opening, the London Optimist Sports Centre / BMO Centre remains one of the city’s busiest indoor recreation venues. Its fields, track, and support spaces host year‑round leagues, academies, and tournaments for youth and adults, as well as practices and training sessions for local clubs that treat the facility as their home base.
The building also serves a broader community role, with fields and rooms regularly used for events, rentals, and programs that bring families, teams, and organizations together under one roof. As demand for indoor sport continues to grow, the systems designed by Callidus Engineering across both project phases provide a reliable foundation for ongoing use helping the centre continue delivering accessible, high‑quality recreation for London and the surrounding region.
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