"If there’s one word to describe our mandate over the past year, it’s modern,“ said Michel Nadeau, associate vice-president of Facilities Management. Nadeau expressed enormous pride about the many accomplishments achieved in 2017 and the coming completion of the Webster Library upgrade.
A library of the future
Working closely with Chief Librarian Guylaine Beaudry and Concordia’s library staff, Facilities Management was charged with creating a library that functioned as a living space—as opposed to the traditional quiet spaces of the past.
“It's a very different world for libraries today,” said Nadeau. “There's been this monumental change in our minds about what a library is for and the way we as a society relate to information.”
One thing that remains the same - books. With regards to Concordia’s collection, Nadeau, in collaboration with Concordia Library staff, oversaw the redesign of the stacks - fitting more books in less space to free up room for other functions.
“We've learned that libraries have grown way beyond stacks and reading rooms,” he said. To that end, Nadeau explained how Concordia’s “new” library required a wide variety of rooms from quiet to interactive, large to small and how Facilities Management worked with library staff to define various forms of collaboration spaces.
The result is a library of the future, with interactive spaces featuring the latest technology, comfortable reading nooks, group study space, quite study rooms and much more.
A new Science Hub
Another major development this past year was Concordia’s announcement of a new Applied Science Incubator at Loyola campus.
Having worked closely on the planning phase, Nadeau noted that it was the single biggest project receiving support from the Government of Canada's Strategic Investment Fund for research facilities.
Expanding the Richard J. Renaud Science Complex, the project will provide Concordia’s scientific community with a new state-of-the-art research facility and equipment that will help enhance research, innovation and training at the university.
“The project will need to be delivered in 24 months,” said Nadeau. “That's a very tight schedule for a very big and complex facility but it's going well and we're on track.”
Facilities Management Reorganization
Though less glamorous, Nadeau also pointed to the recent reorganization of the department’s project-management processes as another source of pride.
“We want to deliver even better projects of even better quality with better planning. We’re aiming for world-class processes and standards with less variation,” explained Nadeau.
Making better use of the skill levels within the department and moving away from standalone processes, Nadeau said, “the spread of responsibilities between departments is changing, positions are being modified to capture work overflow and some are being professionalized.”
The result of this process was the development of a project-management manual to help guide Facilities Management in their drive towards modernization and efficiency. The manual has now become a standardized part of the Université du Québec network this fall.
On September 5, Concordia learned with shock and sadness that Michel Nadeau, associate vice-president of Facilities Management, had passed away. Michel Nadeau worked hard to make Concordia’s facilities world class and the recognition of his projects is an ode to the work he accomplished. His death is an enormous loss to the University.
