Capital Highlights

Bow Valley College

The project at Bow Valley College to expand and completely renovate its North Campus is complete. Some highlights include:

• 9 additional classrooms were added, and all classrooms now support e-learning technologies.
• The building has new student study spaces, a learning commons and library, and labs for the marketing, interior design, early childhood, nursing, and pharmacy technician programs.
• The electrical and mechanical systems have been replaced, and the building envelope has been completely upgraded.

The total project cost of $81.4 million was shared by the provincial government, the federal government and the college. The federal Knowledge Infrastructure Program supported the renovation of the 6th and 7th floors.

The building can accommodate an additional 500 students because of increased functionality and a 46% increase in net assignable space. The estimated cost of new construction for a similar facility is about $140 million. The investment in upgrading and expanding an existing facility represents good value for Albertans as it was accomplished at less than 60% of the cost of new construction.

University of Alberta

The Environmental Engineering Building at the University of Alberta.
was constructed in 1965 as an academic building. In 2007, work started on a major renewal and repurpose program in order to meet the requirements for prion research, including:

• Replacing of the mechanical and electrical systems and the building exterior, which significantly improved its condition.  The renewed building is also less costly to operate.
• Retrofitting three floors of the building to accommodate the Alberta Centre for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases.
• Completion of this project in 2009 tripled the amount of usable lab space, allowing the University of Alberta to accommodate a world-class Prion research team.

The Government of Alberta provided $8 million of capital maintenance and renewal funding for the project. An additional $1.5 million was co-funded from the Alberta Science and Research Investments Program (ASRIP) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), which also provides for leading-edge equipment required in the prion field.

The project was a very cost effective alternative to building new research space, with a cost of $2,500 per square metre for renewal compared to $6,000 per square metre for comparable high end new research facilities. This makes the project not only cost effective, but also sustainable with recycling of materials, re-use of a site, and installation of new energy saving materials.