Forty years ago, the parishioners at the Moncton Wesleyan Church in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, numbered just 65. Things have changed a lot since then. Today the church is the largest in Atlantic Canada, with Sunday services and special events attracting upwards of 2,000 people.

To accommodate its ever-growing numbers, church planners a few years back began laying the groundwork for a major expansion. The centerpiece of the building program would be the construction of the Wesleyan Celebration Centre, a 2,000-seat multi-purpose auditorium that would benefit not only church members, but the community as well.

The addition was designed by Architects Four of Moncton utilizing a conventional construction approach. But after all the initial bids to build the church came in well over budget, Acadian Construction, an authorized Robertson Building Systems builder based in Dieppe, New Brunswick, was invited to review the project direction, construction components and methodology.

Acadian found a number of ways to trim the project budget and worked with the architect to redesign the building around a Robertson metal building system. With construction costs and material selection input during the design development stage, Acadian was able to help lower the project’s total cost by more than $180,000.

The 36,200 sq. ft. building’s primary framing accommodated the creation of a 700-seat mezzanine inside, and facilitated the utilization of precast concrete wall panels on the exterior. Additional Robertson products were standing seam metal roofing and metal wall panels. The building was completed in 2008. Titan Steel, Moncton, was the erector.