University Talk

[Spring2008]

Didn't notice a thread on university construction, events etc.

& Whoa, donations keep pouring in to many projects across the city. Really impressed. Maybe we need to set up a pool for the SE-NC lrt :P.

Businessman makes largest donation in University of Calgary history

Kelly Cryderman

CALGARY — The Globe and Mail


The University of Calgary will receive $100-million – one of the largest philanthropic gifts ever given to a Canadian university – from a Calgary businessman who wants the money to spur breakthroughs in the fields of brain and mental health, as well as infections, inflammation and chronic diseases.

Investor, economist and university alumnus Geoffrey Cumming made the announcement Tuesday with Alberta Premier Dave Hancock and university president Elizabeth Cannon. The province will match the donation and the combined $200-million investment will establish the Cumming Medical Research Fund. The Faculty of Medicine will also be re-named the Cumming School of Medicine.
More Related to this Story


The donation, the largest in the university’s history, will fund research that seeks to unlock mysteries of the brain, including the study of depression and dementia, as well as a range of chronic diseases. But it’s also a tribute to Mr. Cumming’s late father Harold (Hal), a Kingston, Ont. physician who mentored medical students at Queen’s University, as well as Mr. Cumming’s mother Madeleine, who sat on the medical admissions committee at Queen’s and attended Tuesday’s announcement.

“I’ve been very lucky in life. I was born into a great country – it’s balanced and stable and safe – and I was born into a fantastic family,” he said in an interview with the Globe.

“I wanted to do it to thank my parents. I wanted to make a gesture from the bottom of my heart that said ‘this is important, thank you.’ And they had both been involved in medicine,” Mr. Cumming said.

“ They always said life should have high purpose.”

Although Calgary is Mr. Cumming’s base and he has held senior positions at Gardiner Oil and Gas Ltd. and Western Oil Sands Inc., the usually private and low-key businessman doesn’t describe himself as an oil man.

From Ontario he moved west as a young man, to be near the mountains and pursue his love of climbing. After graduating first in his class in honours economics at the University of Calgary in 1974, he pursued a master’s degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He worked for the Alberta government during the tenure of former premier Peter Lougheed, followed by stints at Royal Bank of Canada and Peters & Co. Ltd. He served as vice-chairman and chief executive of Toronto-based Gardiner Group Capital Ltd., a private holding company founded by George Ryerson Gardiner, the Bay Street pioneer and financier who died in 1997. Following a childhood dream of living in New Zealand, Mr. Cumming pulled up stakes in Calgary at age 40 to move to Auckland to set up Emerald Capital Ltd.

Now a citizen of both New Zealand and Canada, Mr. Cumming’s base has been in Calgary for several years. He has sat on numerous boards and said his diverse business interests span the globe. He’s chairman and chief executive of Karori Capital Ltd., a private international investment firm, and has investments in oil, health care and retirement villages, hospitals, hotels and real estate. “Now I just try to work with people I admire and like, and do things I like to do.”

He’s a big believer in lean, effective governments and strong public institutions, and wants to help in the push to ease societal inequality. He considers himself a “citizen of the world,” and – inspired by the philanthropy of Mr. Gardiner and Bill Gates – said he hopes to set his own example by looking at the big picture in Calgary.

Mr. Cumming wants to attract the best researchers to the university, with the promise that his money will help them spend less time writing grant application proposals and more time doing the research work that changes the world. “The really great things take a long time.”

Mr. Cumming’s gift rivals some of the largest-ever contributions to Canadian universities, including the $105-million donation by Michael DeGroote, former CEO of Laidlaw Transport Ltd., to McMaster University’s medical school in 2003.

Dr. Cannon said Tuesday’s gift, the largest single donation ever given to an Alberta post-secondary institution, will build on areas that are already strengths for the university and help attract the best people.

“At the end of the day, you’re trying to bring world-class talent to the University of Calgary, who in turn bring other talent, younger talent, and great students,” she said.

Dr. Cannon added that Calgary will become Western Canada’s first faculty of medicine to be named after a donor. “We’re thrilled. Geoff Cumming is a wonderful person.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/businessman-makes-largest-donation-in-university-of-calgary-history/article19197443/

[Spring2008]

White: Calgary's West Campus could be our own 'city that never sleeps'

Project seeks to transform how Calgarians live thanks to 24/7 hospitals

By Richard White, For the Calgary Herald July 10, 2014


White: Calgary's West Campus could be our own 'city that never sleeps'

The needs of pedestrians will be front and centre in the proposed West Campus development.

Could Calgary soon have its first 24/7 community?

West Campus is the working name for the development of an urban village (residential, retail, restaurants and office buildings) on the University of Calgary’s lands west of the current campus — hence the name. It is all of the undeveloped land north, south and west of the Alberta Children’s Hospital.

In 2011, the West Campus Development Trust (WCDT) was created to continue the evolution of the master plan that was developed in 2006.

The reason the West Campus could be Calgary’s first 24/7 community is because the chief economic engines are not only the university, but also the Foothills Hospital and Alberta Children’s Hospital, both of which are 24/7 operations. Unlike downtown offices, which are busy from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays only, or the shops in Kensington, 17th Ave. or Inglewood that are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., or the restaurants, pubs and clubs that open at noon and close at 1 a.m.; the hospitals are open around the clock.

Imagine meeting friends for happy hours or to work out at the gym at 11 p.m., or maybe after work at 8 a.m., when many hospital shifts end and begin.

The University of Calgary campus also operates seven days a week, with activities starting at about 7 a.m. and going on into the evening with classes, performances and recreational activities. Today, on any given day, nearly 100,000 people visit (work, school and medical appointments) what I call the ‘Learning City’ — University of Calgary, SAIT/ACAD, Foothills Hospital, Children’s Hospital, Market Mall and North Hill Mall.

More than 55,000 people live in the 12 neighbourhoods in and around the U of C. However, by 2030, the university campus could be the heart of a new city with its own culture based on academia, wellness and sports excellence. It could be surrounded by several vibrant, self-sustaining, pedestrian-oriented urban villages, such as University City, Stadium Village, West Campus and McMahon Village.

West Campus vision highlights

While other universities have been the catalyst for a university village with its own street culture — shops, restaurants, cafes, pubs, live performance venues — on its boundaries, the University of Calgary has been a bit of an island with no interaction with neighbouring communities.

However, if James Robertson and his WCDT team have their way, the University of Calgary’s campus will become more of a university town with its own town centre.

Recently, I along with hundreds of others attended one of three open houses to learn more about the WCDT’s vision and master plan for West Campus. The plan is an ambitious one as it includes not only “optimizing financial return to the university” but also, “ensuring the plan connects and harmonizes with surrounding neighbourhoods and the university.”

The plan for the 83 hectares calls for:

*18 hectares of parks, ponds, gardens and public spaces — roughly the size of Prince’s Island.

*12 kilometres of pathways

*6,000-plus multi-family residential units which will be home to 15,000-plus people

*245,000-square feet retail and restaurants — the equivalent of a four-block Kensington-like pedestrian street

*1.5 million square feet of office space for an estimated 10,000 workers.

West Campus is designed to be a pedestrian- and transit-first community, meaning that many of the people will live, work and play within a few kilometres of their home. The plan includes a shuttle to link the U of C campus with the University LRT station, Foothills Hospital campus and the Alberta Children’s Hospital, which makes transit a very attractive option. There is also a comprehensive cycling program that includes dedicated cycling lanes on some streets.

Developer interest in the project is very strong. Already a grocery store has said it will “paper a deal” i.e. commit to building on a site when it is available. Rumour has it another major deal could happen quickly if the city approves the plan. It is possible West Campus, if approved, could happen quicker than other projects like Bridgeland or East Village given the level of interest being shown by developers.

Public questions

I heard some concerns about the traffic and could the project really get people out of their cars to walk or take transit to work, shopping or the gym? While this is good in theory and every planner’s dream, I don’t think it is just a dream in this case. Why? Because University Heights already has 49 per cent of its residents walking, cycling or taking transit to work. There is no reason to believe West Campus can’t achieve the same results given there will be even more amenities, connectivity and it will be more pedestrian friendly.

Others were concerned about the height of the buildings, as high as 16 storeys. I also heard concerns the plan was underwhelming and lacked innovation as an urban design. There were also concerns that there is no provision in the plan for townhouses in the plan — everything is multi-family.

It is really difficult to judge a project at the land use plan stage as the plan looks like an abstract artwork with its blocks of magenta, purple, green, orange, baby blue and tan, representing the different land uses from residential low-, medium- and high-density, mixed-use retail/residential, mixed-use retail/office, municipal reserve and environment reserve.

As I said to one person, “This is just a land use plan, it doesn’t mean everything will be built at maximum density or exactly as zoned.

“What ultimately gets built will be determined by market demand. If there is no demand for a 16-storey condo, then it won’t get built.”

I also expect there will be some townhouses at street level in some of the multi-family condos. In the next 20 years — the expected build-out period — the market for housing, office and retail will change dramatically and the plan for West Campus will evolve with it. This is just a starting point.

I believe there is no such thing as a perfect plan. Looking at the West Campus plan, it checks all the boxes for the right mix of residential, retail, restaurant and recreational spaces, as well as integrating existing and new workplaces.

The last word

The really difficult task in new community building is linking vision with reality. Anyone can present animated streetscapes, parks and public space with fun, funky buildings as part of their vision document — in fact to the untrained eye all community master plans look pretty much the same. The challenge is to enlist developers and urban designers to create places and spaces that are competitive (price, size of units and amenities) with other projects in Calgary that offer similar lifestyles. Calgarians are lucky as they have several new inner-city urban villages to choose from — East Village, University City and Bridgeland — with several more to come in Currie Barracks, Stadium Shopping Centre, Westbrook Station and Jacques Lodge site.

The test will be, “If you build it, will they come?” I think West Campus will be very attractive to health-care workers and academics.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/homes/White+Calgary+West+Campus+could+city+that+never+sleeps/10018826/story.html

[Spring2008]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/homes/cms/binary/10018827.jpg?size=620x400s
http://www.calgaryherald.com/homes/White+Calgary+West+Campus+could+city+that+never+sleeps/10018826/story.html

[mersar]

Steel is finally going up on the Taylor Institute building. The south end has a floor two up now.

[andasen]

Mount Royal launches $100M library project

Erika Stark

Libraries are “just as relevant” to university education today as they were before the world went digital, Mount Royal University’s president says.

During Tuesday’s ceremonial groundbreaking for the school’s new 16,000-square-metre, stand-alone library, Mount Royal president David Docherty said the wealth of knowledge, information and data available to students is “no easier to navigate now that it’s digital.”

“Our students learn differently and we need those expert librarians helping them guide themselves through the digital world for proper research to help solve the problems we’re going to be facing in the future,” said Docherty.

The Riddell Library and Learning Centre will be the “intellectual heart” of campus, he added. With an approximate price tag of $100 million, the LEED Gold standard building will feature 1,500 seats, 34 group-use rooms, and a variety of other areas, including visualization labs and a media creation suite.

“Flexibility and diversity are key principles in this design,” said university librarian Carol Shepstone. “We know that students and faculty need to engage with and interact with information in all its many forms — visual, audio, text, data — in new ways.”

The new library, which is scheduled to open in 2017, is named after the Riddell Family Charitable Foundation, which donated $85 million to the school’s Changing Face of Education campaign.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/calgary/Mount+Royal+launches+100M+library+project/10131587/story.html

[Spring2008]

Meanwhile this is taking place Monday...




Massive U of C West Campus development proposal going before Calgary city council

Mixed-use development of more than 8 million square feet

BY MARIO TONEGUZZI, CALGARY HERALD SEPTEMBER 5, 2014 3:35 PM


CALGARY - Another major step forward for the proposed massive mixed-use West Campus development at the University of Calgary takes place Monday when plans for the project go before city council.

The development would see 6,000 residential units, more than 6.8 million square feet of residential space, 1.5 million square feet of office space, and 245,000 square feet of retail space.

“The element that’s going to council on Monday is the land-use application which is the land-use for the entire (74.55 hectares),” said James Robertson, president and chief executive of the West Campus Development Trust, which is an independent organization run by a board of trustees that holds the land - east of Shaganappi Trail between 16th and 32nd Avenues N.W. - and will oversee its development.

“If they approve it, then we do subdivision and detail engineering. If they don’t approve it, then they send us back and tell us to do x, y or z to the plan whatever that may be.”

The Calgary Planning Commission approved the proposal at the end of July.

The University of Calgary’s board of governors transferred the land to the Trust in late 2010.

In its application for the project, West Campus Development Trust said that more than 8.6 million square feet of residential, retail and office spaces are planned in a “vibrant, walkable community for people of all ages and life stages.”

“The design merges 40 acres of green space, three distinct residential neighbourhoods, and a retail/residential ‘main street’ that runs east to west in the heart of the community,” said the application.

“The vision centres on a ‘Kensington-like’ main street framed by wide sidewalks, fine-grained retail shops, restaurants, a grocery store and a community facility . . . A four acre urban park just south of the main street spans an entire block and is the potential home for a farmers’ market, an outdoor skating rink, and pop-up performance spaces.”

The application said direct access to the street at ground level through patios and public-oriented uses extends a ‘porch culture’ from the main street into residential neighbourhoods, and the office district. There will also be a wide array of building types ranging from townhouses up to 16-storey highrise apartments.

It said the Trust is working on a memorandum of understanding with the Calgary Board of Education to establish Calgary’s first urban format school in the community. It would be located in one or two floors in a mixed-use building and will make use of the adjacent public park space for playgrounds and physical education.

A Central Park area will also have the potential to include a signature building.

“We hope to begin construction and development of the land next summer with the hope of buildings starting construction in 2016,” said Robertson.

“It’s probably a 15-to-20-year project. That’s really dependent on the market conditions and what happens in Calgary between now and then.”

A letter submitted to city council and the Calgary Planning Commission from the community assocations of Montgomery, Parkdale, St. Andrew’s Heights, University Heights and Varsity said: “WCDT should be commended for its approach to community engagement and spirit of cooperation that ultimately lead to a Plan that illustrates a delicate balance of stakeholder compromise. It is fair to say that no one stakeholder got everything they desired but all stakeholders had a seat at the table and left the process satisfied with being heard.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Massive+West+Campus+development+proposal+going+before+Calgary/10178193/story.html