New Residence to house students by 2009

A six-storey, 428 bed residence will replace college green space and one baseball diamond

There's no end in sight for the construction on campus as the college gears up to break ground for the newest residence this summer.

Only a few short weeks after the students finish their final exams and head home for their summer vacation, the college will be starting construction of its third residence to help meet the demand for on-campus housing being fuelled by an increase in enrollment numbers.

“We'll start probably mid-May,” said Shawn Harrington, Fanshawe's manager of facilities planning and development. “We're planning on having it ready for September of 2009. The plans are done, and we're looking at 428 beds on six-floors with the layout of suites that are very similar to S-Building.


“So Q-Building, as we're calling it, will be large four-bedroom suites as well.”

Q-Building will be much like the current two residence buildings in terms of design and layout, Harrington explained, because it has appeared to suit the students and college so far. Though that doesn't mean that there won't be any differences between the three.

“We're certainly trying to not repeat mistakes, that's for sure,” continued Harrington. “We have gone back and looked at what we did on the other two buildings, and changes that had to be done there during construction to make sure we aren't repeating the same problems.

“We did have a meeting with representatives from student groups and got their input on things that need to be changed, and we've maximized what we could within the budget.”

The recommendations, though minor, include closet configuration, cupboard and fan suggestions, changing the location of laundry facilities and even discussions regarding lounge versus study space.

“We do keep trying to improve each residence as we develop them,” said Harry Bakker, the College's director of facilities management. “As we get lessons learned and where we can apply them we certainly do that.”

Accesibility in the residence for students with disabilities is even more prominent than in the previous two residences, with widened doorframes on each suites instead of just on the accessible suites, and there will be one accessible suite on each floor.

The residence will also feature a student lounge with a vaulted two-storey ceiling and fireplace and glazed windows.

“It'll be a nice activity centre for all the students,” continued Bakker. “So the Q-residence students can use it, but it'll also be available for the rest of the college's students as well.

“We've increased the insulation in the walls,” Harrington said. “We've put higher end windows and glass in the building to save more energy. We looked at all the possibilities for increasing energy efficiency with lighting, including different controls and types of light bulbs, like fluorescent, which use less energy.”

According to Bakker, though the official planning for the third residence began in late 2007, unofficially the college started thinking about the building shortly after the opening of the most recent residence building in 2003.

“We've been planning since the second residence went in,” Bakker explained. “It was just as to what timing- it made sense to make sure that S-building was supporting and servicing the demand for on campus residency and to demonstrate the financial viability of a third residence.”

The residence will be built just north of the current ‘R-residence,' taking up the area that is currently a parking lot and baseball diamond. Some of the parking, and one of the baseball diamonds, will have to be removed to create the space needed for the residence. But the parking loss isn't seen as a problem to either Bakker or Harrington, as the residence will eliminate the need for some students to drive to school.

“Those students won't require parking on a daily basis,” Bakker said. “The other thing it comes down to is that the parking lot to the west still has capacity. There is a crunch during the beginning of term, but once the students settle into a routine there's been demonstrated additional capacity.”

The college is hoping to break ground on the new Q-residence building in May with hopes of it being ready to house students as early as September 2009.