Friends before they were clients, Steve Day acted as an unofficial consultant for Jim and Marilyn Webber as the idea of The Fun Lab came to fruition over the course of a couple of years. When it came time to actually bid the project, our team felt like we were already invested – we really wanted to help this client step into their vision, and we were so excited to get started!
The Space: After a viability study, the owners decided to build their dream business in part of the old Blaine Gander Mountain. This meant converting a big box store into an entertainment dream space. To start, we added a restaurant with a massive brick rotating oven that can cook up to 10 pizzas at a time. We also incorporated several amazing attractions, like a two-level laser tag arena, bumper cars, a state-of-the-art virtual reality experience and more!
The Challenges: Blaine is booming, and this particular project was pretty extensive, making the permitting process more complicated than most. For example, the two-level laser tag arena is built on a fully self-supporting structural steel mezzanine, which required another engineer, review and permitting process. Additionally, due to the multitude of games and play spaces, and the volume of patrons they serve, there were extensive fire life/safety requirements to be met that were quite stringent and complicated.
Our Work: We had a limited amount of time for each of the (many!) attraction and systems vendors to do their work, each of which had different requirements that we needed to meet before they could come in and complete their portion of the project. This could have been our downfall, but thanks to substantial communication and various ongoing levels of coordination between our client, our Field Superintendent, our vendors, and subcontractors, we met the deadline with flying colors.
The Results: The Fun Lab is (you guessed it) FUN! We’re thrilled with the way all of the complexities on this project came together to create a new entertainment space for the Blaine community. And our team is really enjoying the excuse to “test” all the attractions when they’re in the area!