Humber sign goes up as LRC project close to completion

Mar 2, 2015 | News

The Learning Resource Commons is 260,000 square feet and is six storeys tall.

The Humber logo was installed onto the almost-complete Learning Resource Commons, a 260,000 square-foot building, this weekend. (Shai Williamson/Humber News)

By Shai Williamson

Humber students at the North campus may have noticed the Learning Resource Commons’ (LRC’s) new Humber sign as they headed to class on Monday.

It was put up this weekend signifying the project, that began June 2013, is coming to a close and the doors are almost open.

According to the LRC website, the building, and new front entrance to Humber’s North campus, is scheduled to be ready for use by September. It will house a new library, peer tutoring and mentoring, career advising, the registrar’s office, student resources, student success and engagement, the international centre, test writing and math centres, administrative and executive offices and the school of liberal arts and science.

With all these services and schools being moved into the LRC, North is set to have lot of space open up – but what it’s going to be used for is still unclear.

Senior director of strategic asset management, Carol Anderson, said that the process of deciding what is going to happen with the space is underway.

“There’s going to be a tremendous amount of space being opened up,” she said.

On Humber’s Campus Development Plan, it states that “existing space that will be vacated by library and student services functions will enable Humber to alleviate shortages of space for students and faculty and to provide additional teaching spaces to accommodate enrollment growth.”

Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services Rani Dhaliwal wrote on the LRC website that “the building will support campus growth by accommodating more than 2,200 new students.”

Humber’s population increased 33 per cent in six years and has grown to 27,500 from 20,627 in 2008. North campus alone houses 19,200.

According to Humber’s media fact sheet, Humber gets more than 65,000 program applications annually – more than any other Ontario College.

Commuters will have to get used to having a new bus stop, as a transit loop is scheduled to be positioned on south side of the new building.

“All of the routes that service Humber College [will be using the loop],” Anderson said.

If you’re a driver, you can breathe easy knowing that the new bus loop won’t infringe on parking.

“All of the parking lot reconfiguration was already done prior to the building of LRC.”

But now, after the LRC, there’s virtually no more space on campus for new expansions, including parking.

“We’re running out of land,” said Rob Kilfoyle, director of public safety and emergency management. “Expansion plans for parking include off-site parking.”

A proposal to expand Guelph-Humber has been sent to the government, said Kilfoyle, but that’s still far off from coming to fruition.

If the expansion gets approved, a parking structure is planned to be built.

According to the website, the LRC, costing $84.2 million, will also include a student hub, and will host a ribbon-cutting event when it opens.