Year in Review 2015: Demolition of Former Swift Current Museum

The former downtown Swift Current Museum will be demolished today in preparation for the development of the Frank Rempel Centennial Plaza announced by the city in March.

"As part of the Centennial Market district," said Mitch Minken, the city's General Manager of Infrastructure and Operations. "We are demolishing the old museum and preparing the site to move forward. We'll be continuing on through weekend and we should be done early next week if weather cooperates."

Traffic downtown will be disrupted for the demolition. Chaplin Street and a portion of 1st Avenue North-East will be restricted to single lane traffic, as well as the lane behind the building.

Once the demolition is completed, Minken says they'll remove the concrete foundation of the basement, back-fill the site with clay, and cap the site with pavement.

"Most of what we can will be repurposed," Minken said. "Any of the concrete and brick will be ground up and reused for other purposes. The rest of the building material, unfortunately, will end up as waste."

Minken said the rehabilitation of the sidewalks will begin this year, as well as the construction of a vegetation wall for the Centennial Plaza.