The UTSC Campus Council announced plans for new capital construction projects on November 19 to address the need for additional space on campus.

Student residence

A 747-bed student residence will begin bidding for contractor selection in mid-January and is scheduled to be completed by the 2022–2023 academic year.

This project would nearly double UTSC’s capacity of student residences, which accommodated 850 students from 2018–2019.

Since 2013, undergraduate enrollment has increased from 11,701 to 13,694 students.

In an email to The Varsity, UTSC Media Relations spokesperson Don Campbell explained some of the design elements that the new student residence will feature.

“It’s being developed as passive house, a design standard that results in ultra-low energy use,” wrote Campbell.

Instructional Centre

Instructional Centre 2 is in the design development phase, and is scheduled to be completed in 2023. According to Campbell, it will house 17 new classrooms and a proposed 500-seat theatre style classroom. “It will also have 300 new study spaces, including group study spaces,” wrote Campbell.

According to Campbell, Instructional Centre 2 is slated to become a hub for student affairs and services on campus, and will house the Department of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, which currently resides in Instructional Centre.

Indigenous House

Indigenous House is also in the design development phase and is expected to be completed by 2022. The architect and building design will be revealed in early 2020.

Its purpose, wrote Campbell, is to “create a space on campus for our Indigenous community. The goal is to bring all communities together to engage in intercultural dialogue and to educate, build awareness and teach Indigenous ways of knowing, histories, and culture.”

Though these projects have all been approved by the Governing Council, other buildings  are still in the planning or pre-planning stage.

These other buildings include the Arts, Culture and Pluralism Centre, which is in the Project Planning and Report Development Stage and is expected to house the Department of English, Department of Arts, Culture and Media, and the Doris McCarthy Gallery, all of which are currently spread out in different buildings across campus.

“The Scarborough Academy of Medicine is in the early stages of planning,” wrote Campbell. “But the goal is to significantly contribute to plans already underway to revitalize health care in Scarborough.

“The facility will help train doctors, nurse practitioners, physical therapists, kinesiologists and life science students, among others.”