Located in South Glenmore Park, the Glenmore Sailing School has been serving Calgary as a place of learning and nautical training for over 50 years. The facility provides opportunities for citizens to learn sailing skills, boating safety and use the Glenmore Reservoir for recreational sailing. The original building was built in 1966 (and still in use as classroom space today) and a modular trailer was added in 1981. The new Glenmore Sailing School project began out of a need to replace the trailer, which could no longer be used as classroom and office space in 2017 due to water damage, age, wear and tear, and age. Concurrent to the condition of the trailer, several other needs were identified by the users and operators of the school. One need being that there were no change rooms available for students; therefore, changing was often occurring in storage sheds. Another need being that the existing washrooms did not provide universal access; a concern of the students of the adjacent disabled sailing school.

As a result, the new facility provides much-needed multi-functional learning, classroom and amenity space that serves today’s activities and programs of the Glenmore Sailing School. The main program elements of the new classroom building comprise of accessible and flexible classroom space with a small kitchenette, washrooms meeting barrier-free design guidelines, and change rooms. The washrooms are intended to dually serve the students in the main building as well as the disabled sailing school students who operate out of a building located west of the site. A NanaWall, an operable wall on the east side of the main room, opens up to the outdoor space creating an indoor/outdoor learning environment. At 226 square metres in size, the new Glenmore Sailing School better meets the amenity, accessibility, learning and training requirements of its students for 2021 and beyond.