Vision & Mandate

Campus Development

NorQuest College Visual Identity / Logo

Speaking notes for Dr. Jodi L. Abbott, President and CEO, NorQuest College

The following speaking notes were used to support NorQuest College's presentation at Edmonton Economic Development's I <3 YEG DT: Downtown X-posed event at the Shaw Conference Centre on December 15, 2011. The notes cover NorQuest's Downtown Campus Development project plans, which include the construction of a new North Learning Centre.

Introduction

• Today's forum is really an exciting glimpse into the ongoing development of Edmonton's downtown.
• I'm pleased to share details about how NorQuest College's Downtown Campus development plans complement the city's vision for a vibrant and vital downtown core.
• Before I discuss where NorQuest is going, I'd like to provide you with some background on where we are now and the College's integral role in Alberta's post-secondary system.

Talking NorQuest

• NorQuest is Alberta's largest community college and we are the designated community college for the Edmonton region, serving more than one million Albertans.
• We offer a strong selection of post-secondary diploma and certificate programs.
• Our career studies include human services, business and our nationally recognized leadership in health-care education.
• The return on investment from a NorQuest College education, for our students and the province, is excellent.
• An outstanding 95 per cent of our graduates find employment or continue their education.
• And one of the College's areas of focus for the next five years is to ensure our programs are 100 per cent workforce relevant... to Edmonton and to Alberta.
• This means we're defining program offerings based on economic viability and greatest value to the economic growth and social well-being of our city and our province.
• This means NorQuest graduates will, more than ever, be workforce ready to fill your job vacancies.
• Just last week, Premier Alison Redford told the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce that Alberta is facing a shortage of 114,000 workers over the decade.
• Clearly, workforce relevance and readiness are of critical importance to the strength of the provincial economy.

NorQuest Today

• To ensure our graduates are workforce ready, it's vitally important that the College is ready to meet their needs and meet the demands of our growing enrolment.
• NorQuest's Edmonton Downtown Campus Main Building was commissioned in 1971. It is located on Capital Boulevard between 102 and 103 Avenue, right in the heart of the Campus Warehouse District.
• Since 1971, our role has changed and we have grown dramatically to meet our students' needs.
• As a result, our learners are now scattered across six facilities in Edmonton.
• These dispersed learning sites result in operational inefficiencies and higher operating costs due to services being duplicated for each location.
• The fragmentation also creates logistical and curriculum delivery challenges for our employees and, more importantly, for our students.

Our Downtown Campus Development Vision

• We currently serve 9,000 students per year.
• This number is expected to grow to an estimated 12,500 learners by 2024.
• If NorQuest is to deliver the workforce-ready Albertans by providing relevant and accessible training and education, it is essential that we have the infrastructure to do so.
• Our vision is to consolidate all teaching and learning from the six dispersed facilities into one consolidated, Downtown Campus for the future.
• Once we secure funding from the Government of Alberta, consolidation into a LEED Silver, 21st century teaching facility will result in improved student services and significant operational efficiencies.
• This will be accomplished by eliminating the cost of off-campus leases, expensive operational costs at numerous locations and high levels of deferred maintenance on some aging facilities.

NorQuest Downtown Campus Capital Project

• With the NorQuest Downtown Campus Capital Project, NorQuest is striving to provide high quality education in an environment designed to modern standards where students can flourish.
• The project will modernize the College by improving access to services, teaching technology and supportive learning space for learners.
• The project includes the development of a new 27,500 M2 North Learning Centre and retrofitting of the current main campus building.
• It embraces Capital Boulevard as the main street through NorQuest Campus.
• And we are collaborating with Grant MacEwan University on LRT station options north of the College.

Features

• Features of the new campus include:
  
  
  • New Campus Entrance on Capital Boulevard with universally accessible ground floor amenities.
  • Community, educational, retail and publicly accessible spaces on main and second floors.
  • Other features include smart classroom technology, labs, a day care, expanded food services and student activity space.
  • There will be walkthrough accessibility to an onsite park and future LRT.
  • Use of natural and sustainable building materials contain recycled content.

Green space

• Part of the project includes the development of a park, which will be located on the site currently occupied by our health studies building on 102 Avenue.
• Centrally located within the Warehouse Campus District, this green space represents a key step in building the central park network as envisioned in the Capital City Downtown Plan.
• This new park will be sheltered by the existing and future campus buildings providing a southerly exposure to encourage year round use.
• The park also integrates the College with the community through connecting pathways and open spaces for gatherings.

Library

• Overlooking the park will be the new Campus library on the second floor.
• The North Learning Centre and the Downtown Campus Development Project is about function, form and the future.
• It will enable NorQuest to substantially increase our capacity, meet enrolment growth and help meet the province's workforce demands.
• It will also act as a "catalyst" for the ongoing development of Edmonton's downtown and complement a future LRT expansion.
• Our campus is at the heart of the Campus Warehouse District.
• The Campus Warehouse District is at the heart of the Capital City Downtown Plan.
• And the overall architectural design of the project complements the City of Edmonton's Capital Boulevard redevelopment plans.

Conclusion

• So, to recap:
• The Downtown Campus Development Project will enable us to consolidate and modernize our facilities to better meet the needs of our learners.
• It will enable us to help meet the province's workforce demands, including Premier Redford's recently announced need for 114,000 workers.
• It will also help us maintain the workforce relevance of our programming.
• We're excited to be part of the revitalization building in downtown Edmonton.
• We look forward to growing with you.

North Learning Centre will transform Edmonton's community college into a vibrant downtown campus

EDMONTON - President and CEO Dr. Wayne Shillington presented NorQuest College's Downtown Campus vision to a full crowd at Monday's Downtown Rotary Club luncheon. Plans call for a new building, the North Learning Centre, to be built directly north of the existing Downtown Campus Main Building at 10215-108 Street.

"Once built, the North Learning Centre will meet our growth needs for a decade," said Shillington. "To meet the needs of the community means NorQuest must transform into a leading comprehensive community college. Our vision is to create a vibrant downtown campus that consolidates our existing Edmonton locations, improving access to services, teaching technology and supportive learning space for all learners."

A sustainable and efficient building that will more than double NorQuest's existing on-site capacity, the North Learning Centre will face Capital Boulevard (108 Street), bounded by 103 Avenue and 107 Street. The 27,500 square metre, five-storey building will provide state-of-the-art smart classrooms, a daycare centre, a new library, food services and student activity space. The North Learning Centre will be connected at all levels with the existing Main Building. The vision is to modernize the Downtown Campus, incorporate green park space and serve as an anchor to the north leg of Capital Boulevard. Plans also call for refurbishing and retrofitting of the existing Main Building once programs and services are redistributed between the two buildings.

In recent years, the Government of Alberta has committed $5 million toward updating the business case and planning activities for the new building. These will be submitted to government in July 2010. Construction is not approved by government at this time. The College plans to develop to a stage where it is tender ready if and when government has the funds to support the project.

Existing Edmonton locations include:

• Westmount Campus (11140 - 131 St.), a leased facility
• Business and Industry Education Centre (Capital Centre, 10135 - 109 St.), a leased facility
• Health Education Centre - 106 Street (10232 - 106 Street), a leased facility
• Health Education Centre - 102 Avenue (10704 - 102 Avenue), owned by NorQuest
• Intercultural Centre (10230 - 108 Street), owned by NorQuest
• Main Building (10215 - 108 Street), owned by NorQuest

Video

Building Edmontons Region's Community College [ + watch video ]