St. Denis Centre reno disrupting routines
Students and staff at the University of Windsor are starting to feel some of the not-so-short-term pain associated with the long-term gain of a new sports and recreation facility.
Earlier this week, the university sent out a notice that the St. Denis Centre field house would be closed daily from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday.
It will be unavailable during those hours for the balance of the school year.
The closure allows workers to start the complex process of removing and replacing six large heating-and-cooling units suspended from the ceiling. Athletic director Mike Havey said the work is tied to the $73-million Lancer Sport and Recreation Centre project approved earlier this year by the university’s board of governors.
The work being done now in the field house and in the adjoining human kinetics building is part of a $4.5-million grant to reduce greenhouse gas and provided by the Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development.
According to terms of the grant, the university has to have most of the retrofit completed by March. “It’s creating a disruption for sure,” Havey said. “Everybody is impacted by this, but it’s related to the nature of the funding for the project. It’s grant-funded and we can’t forego the grant.” Some students were caught off guard by the daytime closure. “We’ve been fielding expressions of concern by students, which is understandable,” Havey said. “It’s a challenge. It’s definitely not business as usual.”
The daytime closure means students and staff can’t access the indoor track or the athletic courts for casual pickup games of basketball or badminton. It means high-profile Olympic athletes like Brandon McBride and Melissa Bishop can’t train there during the day.
It also means varsity athletic teams can’t hold early-morning practice, and it’s affected the delivery of practical curriculum in kinesiology.
The contractor agreed to clear the work site daily to allow for use of the space by the university’s large intramural and varsity programs after 3 p.m.
Havey said the university is working on making alternate facilities available for student use during the daytime. “We’re trying to provide access to open recreation,” Havey said. “I think there’s some alternatives available in the community. “As for varsity teams, if they want an early morning practice we’re trying to provide some offsite access, but we haven’t landed on a solution yet.”
Havey said the university is not taking on any additional rental groups because of the retrofit and that “some large events could be impacted.”
Fall convocation ceremonies will be held at the St. Denis Centre next weekend and then on Monday. The St. Denis Centre parking lot (known as lot U) will be closed for relocation of sewer lines until December.
Classes break from Dec. 5 to Jan. 3 and during that time, Havey said the university will “try to give contractors as much access as we can.” What that means for the fate of the 62nd annual High School Basketball Invitational tournament held in mid-December, he wouldn’t say.
“I can’t really comment on that,” Havey said.
The LSRC project features a triple gym with seating for 2,500, an eight-lane, 25-metre pool and a fitness gym triple the size of the existing one. New construction is slated to start in the spring with a completion date of 2021. Havey warned there will be future disruptions at the St. Denis Centre when it comes time to connect new and existing facilities. “It’s going to be messy and ugly but there’s no other way around it,” he said.