MONTREAL/May 13, 2002—
Concordia University held a ground breaking ceremony today, launching construction of a building to house the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science and the Visual Arts in downtown Montreal. The building will become the cornerstone of the future Quartier Concordia, which will include a building for the John Molson School of Business and facilities for the Faculty of Fine Arts.
The Honorable Lucienne Robillard, President of the Treasury Board and Member of Parliament for Westmount-Ville Marie, Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay, Marie-France Germain, sous-ministre adjointe ‡ l'enseignement supÈrieur au ministËre de l'…ducation (MEQ) and Dr. David Strangway, President and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), joined Rector Frederick Lowy and other dignitaries in the sod turning ceremony. Hundreds of Concordia faculty, staff and students were also on hand to celebrate this important phase in the construction process.
The new building, which will occupy prime real estate on Ste. Catherine between Guy and Mackay Streets, will cost approximately $165 million. Last month, the Quebec government announced an investment of $97 towards this project. In making the announcement Premier Bernard Landry said ìWith this investment, the government recognizes the important social and educational mission of this university which plays a key role in the future of Quebec.î
Education Minister Sylvain Simard added, ì This major investment in higher education will allow us to welcome more students into these critical sectors and to raise the research profile of this important institution.î
Construction of the new building is expected to be completed in 2005. Not a moment too soon, according to Rector Lowy. ìConcordia is at a record level for enrolment and we are hiring professors at an unprecedented level. This interdisciplinary facility will provide our students, faculty and researchers with the state of the art environment they deserve.î
Interdisciplinary research is critical according to Dr. David Strangway, President and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). "The CFI's investment of $8.7 Million will help with infrastructure costs for the Interdisciplinary Research in emerging Cinema and Interactive Media Arts," he said. ìI think its great that the CFI is involved in collaboration of this magnitude - working together is what will help Canada excel at innovation on the global stage."
Mindful of the building's potential impact on the downtown core, Concordia launched a nation-wide architectural competition, before deciding on the concept drawn up by the firm Kuwabara, Payne, McKenna and Blumberg. Concordia demonstrated exceptional leadership in its competition brief to architects for the downtown campus and outlined a focused and very rigorous set of "green" criteria for creating a sustainable building.
The building itself is a good example of innovation. In fact, its design is so innovative that it was chosen as one of a very small number of projects from Canada selected to go to the international conference of the Green Building Conference in Oslo Norway this September. The evaluation is based on a range of criteria related to sustainable design.
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