South Winnipeg Recreation Campus

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The City is building a new regional multi-use, multi-generational South Winnipeg Recreation Campus (SWRC) to meet the community’s recreation needs. The project will be built in multiple phases, with design work for Phase 1 starting in fall 2022 and construction expected in 2026-2027. Phase 1 includes gymnasiums, multipurpose rooms, indoor walking/running track, a fitness area, a café, a serving kitchen, a child care centre, and an outdoor spray pad. An addition to Pembina Trails Collegiate (50 Frontier Rd.), that supports vocational programs, is also being constructed as part of Phase 1.

The City is building a new regional multi-use, multi-generational South Winnipeg Recreation Campus (SWRC) to meet the community’s recreation needs. The project will be built in multiple phases, with design work for Phase 1 starting in fall 2022 and construction expected in 2026-2027. Phase 1 includes gymnasiums, multipurpose rooms, indoor walking/running track, a fitness area, a café, a serving kitchen, a child care centre, and an outdoor spray pad. An addition to Pembina Trails Collegiate (50 Frontier Rd.), that supports vocational programs, is also being constructed as part of Phase 1.

Background

The South Winnipeg Recreation Campus (SWRC) is a new regional recreation facility that will be built on Bison Drive west of Frontier Trail and east of Kenaston Boulevard (map). Communities in southwest Winnipeg are growing and a new recreation facility is needed to meet their needs. The facility is intended to serve a catchment area of 4-6 km that will be home to more than 120,000 residents.

The project will be built in multiple phases, with design work for Phase 1 starting in fall 2022 and construction expected in 2026-2027. Phase 1 includes gymnasiums, multipurpose rooms, indoor walking/running track, a fitness area, a café, a serving kitchen, a child care centre, and an outdoor spray pad. An addition to Pembina Trails Collegiate (50 Frontier Rd.), that supports vocational programs, will also be constructed as part of Phase 1.

A master site plan was created for future phases. Future phases may include an aquatic centre, library, outdoor leisure space, arena, and athletic fields. The City is also constructing a fire-paramedic station on the site.

The SWRC is funded by the Government of Canada, the Province of Manitoba and the City of Winnipeg.

Project History

The SWRC is part of Winnipeg’s 2021 Winnipeg Recreation Strategy to ensure that our city’s recreation facilities and programs continue to support the health and wellbeing of our residents and communities. 

Currently, the City owns and operates very few gyms and no multi-use recreation centres in southwest Winnipeg, which means we cannot provide the same level of programming as we do in other areas of the City. 

The plan for the SWRC was developed over several years, as shown in the timeline below.

2014
South Winnipeg Recreation Initiative: Stakeholder Consultation & Recommendations report completed. More than 40 participants representing 15+ organizations provided input in the creation of a “most needed” list of amenities/program spaces.
2016
South Winnipeg Recreation Campus Planning and Feasibility Project Charter completed. This document includes the level of demand for certain activities and a list of desired programming spaces.
2019

Preliminary site and facility planning report completed by Gibbs Gage Architects. The feasibility study included a recommendation for over 230,000 square feet of space, with gyms, indoor track, fitness area, multi-purpose rooms, aquatic centre, indoor arena, and library.

City Council approved the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) application. The project was divided into phases. Each phase includes more achievable budgets. Phase 1 is about 66,000 square feet and includes gymnasiums, multi-purpose spaces, indoor track, and fitness area. These spaces were identified as priorities by the community and stakeholders.
2020
City Council amended the previously approved South Winnipeg Recreation Campus: Phase 1 – Recreation Centre project to include a daycare and a vocational wing to be attached to the new high school.
2023
The SWRC project continues to evolve as the City meets with stakeholders and balances information from the public engagement processes, ICIP requirements, operational considerations, conceptual design, and budget constraints.
Future phases are subject to funding and Council approval.
Page last updated: 15 Jul 2025, 01:26 PM