Downtown campus opening delayed to avoid disruption

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: STEPHEN ECHAVIA
Instead of moving Fanshawe students mid semester to the Howard W. Rundle Building in downtown London, students will make the move beginning in January.

Fanshawe's downtown campus plans have been pushed back again, this time giving students the opportunity to start fresh in the new year.

Construction is just about finished, but final touches still need to be put in before students can fully make the move.

Elaine Gamble, senior manager of corporate communications at Fanshawe, said January was the best bet to prevent causing disruption in the middle of the semester.

“We're getting well into the term at this point,” she said. “We're getting into midterms and we felt it would be really disruptive to move students down there.”

The college originally had plans to open the campus mid-October, but to move students now would have been difficult.

“Everybody's settled in where they are now, and our plan had always been to take us right into the end of the term,” said Gamble. “Our contingency plan that we put in place in August basically took care of all the scheduling, all the classrooms...We don't have to do any more adjustments at this point.”

The building renovation became more complex as time went on. “We're working in a really small space; around existing buildings downtown ... That really created a lot of complications, [such as] moving steel beams and construction equipment,” Gamble said.

Progress was also halted during the World Figure Skating Championships in March. “That was a huge event for the city and we acknowledge that,” she said. “It was going to be really disruptive, so that put us back a little bit.”

Amidst all this, Gamble said the College has done everything to minimize disruption. “But there's businesses around there, buses running on the street. There's only so much you can do.”

Sure, people are settled in now, but for 3D Animation and Character Design students like Stephen Echavia, who took the downtown campus into consideration when looking for off-campus housing, the delay causes mixed feelings.

“My current apartment is just one block south of the new building, and it would have been very convenient to be just a three-minute walk away from class,” he said. “Travelling back and forth between downtown and the main campus isn't too bad; it takes about 15 to 20 minutes.”

On the other hand, he said being on the main campus allows him to attend events and activities he might otherwise miss by spending all day at the new location.

Gamble did add that students moving to the building will be credited $250 towards next term's tuition.

Does that buy you a textbook?