Big boost for ACC’s Parkland Building revamp

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This article was published 20/01/2016 (3923 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On the last day before the election blackout period, the province announced it would help fund a major redevelopment of the Parkland Building at Assiniboine Community College’s North Hill campus.

The revamp of the 103-year-old building will cost an estimated $98.1 million and the province says it will cover up to two-thirds, or $65.4 million, of that price tag — although the project is still contingent on federal backing.

“ACC’s got an application into the federal government for $31 million right now,” Brandon East NDP MLA and Municipal Government Minister Drew Caldwell said. “We have to get the final tally from the feds before we know the total provincial contribution.”

Caldwell says making the funding announcement prior to confirmation of federal dollars will not affect the college’s application because it is already in process through the Building Canada Fund. He is also confident that the federal funding will, in fact, come through.

During his speech at the Tuesday event, Caldwell added that the ACC project is the largest post-secondary commitment outside of Winnipeg in the province’s history.

Of its contribution, the province is dedicating $4 million to environmental remediation work that needs to be done on the North Hill site.

The Parkland Building is set to become ACC’s Centre for Health, Energy and Environment, which will house programs related to health, agriculture, environment and energy sectors.

“Redeveloping this Parkland Building is incredibly important as it preserves the character on the site, which was the goal of our (50-year) master plan,” ACC president Mark Frison said. “It helps to tie in other amenities in a way that will bring some of the current assets on the site together.”

The project will allow ACC to expand and relocate some programs from its Victoria Avenue East campus and will include the development of a student life centre with a double gymnasium and food services.

Frison says the school is eager to start finalizing design plans and that the project is beyond “shovel-ready” because of the existing building. A construction timeline is not yet available.

The ACC announcement wraps up what has been a flurry of provincial funding promises in Brandon over the past several weeks — including an announcement last Friday of a $12-million contribution to Brandon University’s affordable housing complex project

“This is the last major announcement in Brandon … We’re rolling out our throne speech commitments … today at midnight, that will stop,” Caldwell said Tuesday.

Following the ACC announcement, Education Minister James Allum spoke with the Sun and called out Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister on his recent promise to invest in provincial education while cutting waste if his party comes into power on April 19.

In an article in Manitoba Teacher magazine’s January-February 2016 issue, Pallister is quoted as saying “we can eliminate the waste and we can protect front-line services.”

“These kinds of investments result in the strengthening of education for Manitobans for generations to come,” Allum said, referring to the NDP’s ACC commitment.

“We have yet hear a single word from Mr. Pallister on what his plan is for the future — and more than that, he’s yet to articulate what is the waste he’s describing because that’s going to be somebody’s job.”

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