Busy summer ahead

DANIEL McCABE | It's going to get noisy around the downtown campus over the next few months. Dusty too. And on-campus parking will be a bit of a challenge. Not a pleasant prospect to be sure, but all for a good cause. A large-scale campus renewal project will see $22.5 million spent on urgently needed repairs and upgrades to McGill's roofs, terraces, windows, masonry, mechanical systems and classrooms.

"We'll be doing our best to ensure that people aren't inconvenienced any more than is absolutely necessary," promises Radu Juster, a capital alterations manager with the Department of Facilities Development and the project director for the summer's worth of renovations.

One of the biggest jobs will centre around the McIntyre Medical Sciences Building. Workers will be fashioning, in Juster's words, "a new aluminum skin for the building's tower." The $4 million task will begin outside, as new windows and aluminum panels are attached to the building. Then the job will shift to the building's interior as all the old windows are taken out.

A service tunnel connecting the James Administration Building to the Wong Building, which Juster describes as "very narrow and very unsafe," will be modified with a price tag of more than $1 million. Another $1 million will be spent on improving McGill's classrooms. About $4 million will go towards the University's roofs -- many of which are in woeful shape. Tattered terraces outside the Redpath Museum, the Arts Building and Burnside Hall will be torn up and replaced.

"This is the kind of work you have to expect after 30 years," says Juster, noting that many of McGill's buildings and major pieces of equipment were built in the 1960s and early 1970s, during a period in which McGill doubled in size.

"In an ideal world, as soon as you install a major piece of equipment, you should put away a few dollars for that time down the road when it will need repairs, simply as a result of aging," says Juster. "Unfortunately this isn't an ideal world."

Quebec universities didn't save for a rainy day as they went about building their campuses, nor did the provincial government which largely funds them. Most universities are faced with millions of dollars worth of maintenance work they need to do to keep their buildings in good shape, but they can't afford to pay those bills. Quebec City is strict about not allowing universities to use their operating grants for capital expenses.

The government does occasionally parcel out big chunks of money for capital expenditures -- much of the money that will be spent this summer comes from Quebec City. The last time McGill received a similar grant, it was used to make urgent repairs during the summer of 1993.

"We entered this year with about $180 million of deferred maintenance looming over our heads," says Chuck Adler, director of the University Planning Office. "The work done this summer will be a big help -- we'll be down to $160 million or so. But we're adding new things that need to be done to the list every year. In two years, I'm worried that we'll be right back up to $180 million."

There is some hope that universities will begin to receive a larger amount of money and in a less ad-hoc fashion for capital costs, says Adler. "The government is looking at this right now."

As for this summer, two portions of the downtown campus will be blocked off to parking for much of the summer. Part of the main road onto campus from McGill-College will be inaccessible -- the loop connecting the road to the Redpath Museum and the Arts and Stephen Leacock buildings. A road that starts at the James Administration Building and goes up towards Pine will also be unavailable for parking.

Juster says that security guards at the entrances to McGill will hand out pamphlets detailing other parking possibilities on campus -- in the garages of the Education and Samuel Bronfman buildings, or in Burnside Hall's garage, for instance. The University will give preferential treatment to staff or students with McGill parking permits -- day passes won't be issued to visitors when parking spots are rare.

"We'll be making important progress this summer, particularly on the architectural side," says Juster. "Most of the roofs will be in good shape once we're done and that's something to be pleased about."

Once the summer's work is over, Juster and Adler will move on to another project -- deciding what needs to be done next. "Over the next year, we'll put together a priority list of projects -- a master plan detailing where we think money should be spent next," says Adler.

For more information, visit www.is.mcgill.ca/phyres/PAIP97.htm