Dal getting facelift

A long-term plan for the revitalization and expansion of buildings on Dalhousie University’s 32-hectare campus is now underway, the school’s assistant vice-president of faculties management says.
“We have 110 buildings and we occupy 79 acres, so we’re a fairly substantial piece of the peninsula,” Jeff Lamb said.
Lamb said one of the goals of the plan is to address the $200 million worth of deferred maintenance currently on campus.
“We’re going to be spending more and more money on facilities renewal over the next few years because we have to,” Lamb said. “We’re in a deep hole and we have to start digging our way out of it.”
The plan will also focus on implementing university president Tom Traves’s strategic plans for growth, which include enhancing academic and research excellence, improving the student experience, increasing enrollment and financial sustainability.
Consultants hired by the university will draft a master campus plan with help from several other committees. Lamb said a request for proposals goes out this week to hire the consulting team. The goal is to have an approved plan by fall 2009.
Dalhousie’s last campus plan was designed in 1991, before the amalgamation of the university and the Technical University of Nova Scotia.
The old plan focused on building underground parking and fitting in with the neighbours, by developing the “house form,” on campus.
Lamb said those two ideas are no longer viable. The “house form” didn’t factor in increased heating, maintenance and building costs associated with smaller, freestanding buildings.
–lindsay.jones@metronews.ca