THE University of Manitoba is riding a building boom not seen for decades.
A new engineering and computer science complex, nursing building, the Richardson Nutraceutical facility, the Investors Group gym, all up and running.
University of Manitoba president Emöke Szathmáry outside the new Aboriginal Student Centre under construction on the Fort Garry campus:
There are more than $66 million in construction projects under way, the largest of them the new $31 million pharmacy building on the downtown medical campus.
And in 2010, U of M will take control of the 120 acres on the adjoining Southwood Golf Course.
Retiring president Emoke Szathmary has presided over the university's largest transformation since the early 1970s. It began with the Pan Am Games and continued with a provincial-record $237 million capital campaign.
"I joked -- you can't teach and do research under canvas in Manitoba. You have to provide them with modern facilities," Szathmary said.
She won't single out any one building as the most significant, but said that she "never dreamed" pharmacy would move downtown amid other medical facilities.
"Immunology's going to have a place (in pharmacy) -- that's novel," she said.
Back in the '90s, engineering wanted a retrofit along with new facilities, but U of M couldn't afford both, Szathmary said. Meanwhile, computer science "had wires hanging from the wall. It was pathetic."
The solution was one new complex combining both: "I don't think anyone really thought the two deans would collaborate that way," Szathmary said.
When she became president, aboriginal students had a small space crammed into an upper floor of University Centre. Now, they'll have a centre behind the Max Bell that will open early in 2008.
Bill Schellenberg, manager of architectural services/university architect, said there are still a few building sites within the core campus at Fort Garry.
"We'll be looking at residences, high rise configurations," he said.
And there is SmartPark, which has another four or five building sites available. U of M owns the buildings and leases them back long-term to corporations conducting research.
U of M is creating an intriguing alternative village, in which Szathmary said engineering students will build seven 500-square-foot houses made from materials such as insulated concrete, straw and wood, and test how they perform in Manitoba's climate.
Szathmary has some ideas of the golf course lands being used for desperately-needed student residences and for additional retail services such as restaurants, cafes and stores, but such planning will be left to a consultant who is yet to be hired.
City officials said U of M would need to seek a rezoning for the property, which now allows only recreational and very limited retail activities. Plan Winnipeg designates the golf course as major open space.
"There is a stewardship of the university to think about.....what needs to be preserved for the next generation," Szathmary said.
Szathmary said that budget projections have soared for the centre for music, art and design proposed in the capital campaign, but she has some ideas which she won't reveal until she's put them to Premier Gary Doer for financial help.
nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
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