New Sustainable Skating Rink Breaks Ground in Belmont

On Thursday, September 5 at 10 am, history was made – unearthed, rather – in Belmont as a band of shovels and picks broke ground at 297 Concord Ave. by Belmont High School to kick off the construction of a new skating rink Ted Galante and his TGAS team are designing for the site of the worn-out old one.

“Ted worked on the Belmont Police Station, and they really liked it, so that helped us get this project,” said TGAS Senior Designer Tina Tanios.

But “new” doesn’t just mean newly built. It also means innovative, regarding the Belmont Skating Rink’s net-zero-energy ice-making system. Glycol, an alcoholic chemical compound, increases the evaporation-condensation point of the CO2 used in the cooling, keeping the rink’s ice sheet frozen all year long (for skating in the summer!) in an environmentally sustainable way. This system does not deplete the ozone layer and has a global warming potential of 1, in contrast to the average rink’s 40-something potential.

“It has the potential of being one of the most environmentally friendly rinks in the country,” said TGAS Project Manager Christian Boran. Adding to this is its potential to accommodate photovoltaic solar panels in the future. “We’ll set it up so that, when they have the funding, they can hook the PV panels right up,” said Boran.

“New” also means an uncommon building method with modular pre-engineered steel sheets, columns, bents, and roof trusses and purlins. They make up a kit of parts prefabbed in a factory, transported to the site, and assembled on site. This includes a special web of bents, beams, trusses and purlins that allows for a 40,000 SF volume and an unobstructed view of the action during Boston Marauders games and public skate-ins.

Also new is the type of steel sheeting that will be used for the walls and roofs, which is more durable than the old rink’s corrugated metal sheets. “It was rusting out, and you could see daylight through the walls,” said Boran.

He hopes the new rink will see the light of day in September 2025.