New Marigold headquarters taking shape

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The new shared headquarters of Marigold Library System and Western Irrigation District (WID) is on track to be completed by the end of the summer.

Marigold provides the materials, IT infrastructure and other products to 37 libraries in Alberta, including the Strathmore Municipal Library. But these two organizations are separate and will continue to be based in different locations.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Marigold-WID headquarters, located northwest of the intersection of Orchard Park Rd. and Pine Rd., was held in September 2020. Construction is still underway, but the building is now encased and its windows have been installed, with construction crews now working on its interior.

The Strathmore library, meanwhile, is staying put in the Lambert Centre at 85 Lakeside Blvd.

It is expected the new Marigold-WID headquarters building will reach “substantial completion” by August 2021, explained Michelle Toombs, Marigold CEO. At that point, Marigold personnel will be allowed to enter the building in advance of the official move-in. Moving in, which is expected to start in late September, should take around a month. But they will proceed carefully.

“We want to be really careful, because COVID has had its impacts on so many industries, and the supply chain can be disrupted,” said Toombs.

Once moved over to the new building, Marigold will look to sell its current building through a commercial real estate agent.

The new headquarters will better suit Marigold’s needs, said Toombs. The organization has worked from its present headquarters for around 40 years, but now serves a larger population, and thus requires more space. There is also now a much greater reliance on IT systems, requiring supporting infrastructure, such as servers. Resource sharing, which allows the 320 libraries in the province to share materials, also adds a lot of complexity, explained Toombs.

The new building has a shared meeting space for up to 100 people. One of the Marigold’s visions for the building since the start of the design process was offering this space for use to other organizations or groups in town or from Siksika Nation.

A website (marigoldwidcommunity.ca) has been developed to showcase the progression of the headquarters building. Through this site, organizations may someday be able to book the community room for their use.

“Our organizations are well connected in the community, but we want to become even better connected,” said Toombs.