Come September, the prospect of a peaceful, open campus centre will be difficult to imagine.
Orange cones, rusty blue fences and the drone of heavy machinery—none of these are uncommon on an evolving campus like UBC. But for the class of 2016, these sights may come to define their degree like never before.
“There’s no more signature thing to a current student, this cohort of students, than construction on campus,” stated AMS President Matt Parson.
He isn’t being hyperbolic. Last February, the ground-breaking for the new SUB marked the first of six major construction projects planned to span at least the next four years—all in the heart of campus.
This means that this September’s incoming students will find it especially hard to escape construction during their degree.
The new SUB won’t be completed until August 2014. During this time, the Bookstore will be expanded and fully renovated. And located between these two sites, construction on a new Alumni Centre is also projected to span two years.
New SUBMay 2012-Aug 2014Bookstore renovationFall 2012-Aug 2013Alumni CentreSpring 2013-Jan 2015Aquatic CentreMay 2013-Jan 2015Diesel bus loopFeb 2015-Jan 2016Gage South housingJan 2016-
Joe Stott, director of Campus and Community Planning, stated incoming UBC students would acquire a very different impression of campus. “Someone starting their undergraduate years here in September will witness quite a transformation on campus, and it will be on-going throughout their four years.”
A few metres east of the SUB, three additional development projects are set to start in 2013.
Work on the new Aquatic Centre is slated for the following 20 months. Then just a month after its completion, further construction will start on a diesel bus terminal and new MacInnes Field, spanning a further year. Finally, student housing is planned at the current bus loop after 2016.
“[Construction has] been fairly consistent over the last six years, it just depends on what part of campus you’re familiar with,” explained Stott.
However, construction has mainly stayed outside the campus centre—the area around Gage, the bus loop and the SUB.
“It tends to be on the periphery, and unless you go to that part of campus, people may not be that aware.”
SUCH BLISSFUL IGNORANCE will soon be a thing of the past. Aside from work on the University Boulevard bus loop, the core of campus has been mostly quiet since the completion of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre in 2002.
“It will be more disruptive than it has been,” stated Stott.
“Now we’re going to be right in everyone’s face because everyone comes to the hub of campus. That’s why most people will perceive there’s more activity.”
Opinions on the construction process aren’t always positive.
“Now we’re going to be right in everyone’s face because everyone comes to the hub of campus.”
Joe Stott, Campus + Community Planning
In the two weeks since fences were put up around the new SUB construction site, AMS President Matt Parson has heard a number of complaints. “I’ve gotten a few emails already of, ‘I’m having difficulties getting into the SUB.’ Just frustrations from people.”
The prospect of reduced traffic in the SUB is concerning for a society that relies on its businesses for revenue. In an effort to secure business in the SUB, Parson explained that the AMS has hired a consultant who will be managing its “disruptive marketing campaign.”
Starting in September, the campaign will focus on wayfinding into and around the SUB. “It’s more to help people navigate their way around the current SUB, making sure that they’re still able to come in and find their way to the Gallery or the Pit.”
“It might be a more annoying time to navigate around the centre of campus, but…through our messaging efforts, people won’t be lost among the fences.”
“You’ve got this immediate impediment as soon as you get off the bus. In fact, the first day all those fences went up, I had no clue. I was very frustrated and I sent a note to the transportation office and said, ‘If I can’t find my way through here, other people aren’t going to be either.’”
“I think [the AMS has] tried to address it…but it’s going to be like that for several years.”
Gregory stated expecting the impact of construction can be difficult, with students with disabilities facing particular hardship. “It’s hard to know all the people who are going to a certain place, and we maybe don’t know until we get the call. Then we try to address it.”
Come its September renovation, the Bookstore will face similar concerns. In an effort to remain accessible, it plans to open additional entrances.
Gregory is responsible for implementing the Public Realm Plan, the project currently focused on reshaping Main Mall and University Boulevard. Both are set to finish by September 2012, but eight additional Public Realm projects are planned for the next few years.
“[There is] lots of development on campus. It’s probably unprecedented. It’s distressing, I think, when people are here and looking around and just seeing all this change. It’s understandably difficult for people to absorb it,” stated Gregory.
Gregory is not the only one concerned about the visual impact of the construction sites. Parson and the AMS are also concerned about the unsightliness of construction. To reduce the visual impression on students, the marketing campaign will include beautification, such as scrims on the fences surrounding the site.
THE START OF construction on the new SUB has also raised further controversy.
In addition to the student experience, the natural landscape of any location is necessarily disturbed by construction. In the case of the new SUB, this meant demolishing 60 trees on the site.
“Just watching these trees come down the other day, people were walking by and shaking their heads,” stated Chris Sherwood.
A UBC lab manager, Sherwood has been conscious of the environment for the 29 years he has worked on campus. After he witnessed the tree removal for the new SUB, Sherwood spoke out against the university in an article in the Vancouver Courier.
“Just watching these trees come down the other day, people were walking by and shaking their heads.”
Chris Sherwood, UBC lab manager
Sherwood believes the planned construction shows UBC’s negligence of the campus environment. “Those trees out there were bird habitat, and you used to get all sorts of exotic birds.”
Gregory stated that, as a landscape architect, the decision to save or remove trees is a difficult one.
Though he concurred that the removal of trees was unfortunate, Gregory argued that UBC strived to keep or move as many trees as possible. “We do try. But you can’t move all trees, [some] are just too big.
“The environmental value and the aesthetic value of the trees was really high. The monetary value of the trees was not really that high.” Given the financial estimates from the tree mover, he stated it “didn’t seem rational” to keep the trees.
Stott agreed, adding that moving trees posed too much of a gamble. “[There is no] guarantee of success when you replant. There’s too much money at risk.”
For those involved, these problems seem inherent at a time of extensive development and change at UBC.
“We can’t do it all at once, even though for some people it will appear to be all at once,” stated Stott.
“This is in the heart of the campus, there’s going to be quite a transformation.”
For students, this transformation process will be inescapable for the next few years. Parson hopes efforts by the AMS will relieve the burden.
“Hopefully through some things like phasing, it won’t be too disruptive to a particular cohort in a particular area for a drawn-out period of time,” he said.
But with the ambitious plans set for the heart of campus, Parson admits students will still feel the strain.
“It’s tough. This university is growing and a part of that is the growing pains,” stated Parson.
“It’s just one of those unfortunate realities that a current UBC student has had to deal with.”
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