University of Alberta’s largest residence will take $117 million and four years to overhaul
The University of Alberta’s largest residence will require a $117-million overhaul if it is to avoid a “significant failure of major building systems,” the institution’s finance committee was told Wednesday.
Citing the age of the Lister Centre and the fact the facility has not undergone any substantial building retrofit or renewal since its construction in the 1960s, initial design work is already underway, with construction expected to begin in late 2018 with “substantial completion” by July 2022.
A briefing note to the committee said “many of the original building systems, including lighting, sprinklers, fire alarm, voice communication and window systems, do not meet current code and life safety standards.”
“The building interiors, including the dormitory rooms, study rooms, laundry facilities, amenity and social areas that provide living and support spaces crucial to academic achievement, student engagement and community building, are outdated and in poor condition,” the note said.
“This is not putting lipstick on a pig,” U of A vice-president, facilities and operations, Andrew Sharman told the committee, referring to the scope of the work.
Lister houses about 1,760 students in Kelsey Hall, Henday Hall and Mackenzie Hall. Threequarters are first-year students. When the latest tower, Lister 5, is completed in August 2018, the total capacity will increase to 2,200 students.
That extra space will come in handy because complicating the retrofit is the need to close each of the three towers for a minimum of one year because of the magnitude of the work. Those students will find a temporary home in the new Lister 5 residence.
Construction will be broken into two parts; the first phase will focus on the towers and their critical buildings systems and phase two will redesign Lister Centre to “optimize student supports, community and amenity spaces, and administrative spaces.”
It will also go a long way toward the university ’s mission to offer every first-year student the chance of living in residence, Sharman said.
“This is crucial for that to happen,” he said.
To undertake Phase 1 work, the university is looking to borrow $75.5 million from the Alberta Capital Finance Authority over a 30-year term.
The U of A’s board of governors will vote on the proposal May 11.
Sharman said a further $10 million will come from two recent residence construction projects that ran under budget — Lister 5 and ECV 9 — as well as some funding from ancillary services.
The remainder of the funding —
$31.5 million — will be needed in Phase 2.
The work will also help address the university’s deferred maintenance bill, which has now topped $1 billion. Sharman said the refurbishment will knock that number down by $21 million.
Administration alluded to the growing predicament at Lister when it pushed for hikes to food services and residence rents as part of sweeping budget increases for the coming academic year. Those increases and an increase to international student tuition were met with protests across campus.
The board of governors approved an across-the-board four per cent increase to residence rates effective Sept. 8 and at the same time, the university also introduced a new meal plan for Lister that would increase food costs for students.
A Lister single room on an eightmonth contract will cost $5,283. With the full new meal plan tacked on, that cost rises to $10,282. A double room will cost $3,488, or $8,487 with the addition of the top meal plan.
All of this is happening as the university institutes across-theboard discretionary spending cuts of four per cent.