By Jennifer McGregor
Yellow tape restricts part of the entrance of the business building on Victoria Street. Construction workers concentrate go about their work as hurried students try to navigate through an obstacle course of people and equipment. The dust was supposed to have settled by now and the machines should be off to their next project.
Instead, the much needed renovations in the business building won’t be done until Sept. 28, a month later that expected, said Tom Knowltron, dean of the faculty of business. Knowltron pins the delay on a change in the supervision of the building contractor. “We are disappointed that we have lost a month,” he said, but adds it will be worth the wait.
The business building building is just one of six construction projects the school has in the works, which include a new student centre and a new building for continuing education. Its “cosmic upgrade” includes a refurbished lobby, complete with new lights and panels in the elevators and an Internet cafe, an overhaul of the student lounges on the sixth floor, and an upgrade to the appearance of the eighth floor. “Visitors will get a much better impression when they come into the building,” said Knowlton.
Some students were inconvenienced with a longer that usual wait at the elevators because of renovations, but he said most of the elevator glitches have been fixed. Still, Amy Ehmann, a third-year social work student who has classes in the building, said the renovations should have been done during the summer. “It is annoying trying to get in and out of the building,” said Dominika Paduck, a first-year business management student. “I think it is a good thing,”said Cathy Terkalas, a third-year business management student. “The building was really crappy before.”
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