New building arrival slated for summer 2012
Samantha Osaduke
Staff Writer
@excalweb
The weather has forced construction of a new building at Glendon campus, a part of an initiative to expand campus facilities, to be pushed back to next summer.
While Glendon’s Centre of Excellence for French-language and bilingual post-secondary education was scheduled for completion in December 2011 as previously reported by Excalibur, certain weather conditions have prevented construction from progressing as smoothly as expected.
“Because the construction site is right at the entrance of the campus, it required a lot of co-ordination and we could only close some sections to do some of the work for limited periods of time,” says Gilles Fortin, Glendon’s executive officer.
Fortin explains while the weather was disruptive last spring, the project was still able to make significant progress. Construction first began in August 2010.
“We are on schedule to use the space for the summer session,” he says.
The Government of Ontario awarded $20 million to the campus for investment in bilingual higher education in 2008. Some of the expansions include a direct-entry Bachelor of Education for French teachers at all teachable levels, a bilingual and trilingual international Bachelor of Arts (iBA), and new PhD in Études francophones.
The construction is being supported with more than $5.3 million, which has been donated by alumni. In the second phase of the campaign, the goal has been extended to $10 million.
Upon returning from the break, students were pleasantly surprised to see that a part of the A Wing had been reopened.
“We have reopened the most western section of A Wing so we could use classroom space for the winter term,” explains Fortin.
Since construction began, classrooms have had to be relocated to the Proctor Field House or Leslie Frost Library. Now that construction work has moved almost entirely inside, says Fortin, weather will no longer have an effect on the construction schedule.
“Students will be able to use the new entrance to York Hall, study with splendid view to the valley, and get their Tim Hortons fix before the term is over,” he says. “We are hoping to gain access earlier for some special events and the official opening should take place some time in April […] construction is progressing very well.”
With files from Excalibur archives
