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PODIUM STUDY SPACE ON HOLD

By Shazia Kermally

Ryerson students won’t be seeing the proposed sunroom study space outside the Podium building any time soon.

Instead, the $10 million Ryerson received this summer from the provincial government will go to “deferred maintenance projects” said President Sheldon Levy.

“Deferred maintenance incorporates everything from fixing roofs to the new boiler to doing repairs on sidewalks,” Levy said.

“A lot of [the projects] will be in improvements with regard to students with disabilities.”

Ryerson received the money from Ontario’s $970 million Building Places to Learn project with the purpose of improving learning environments on campus. In April, Levy said that students could expect to see a glass enclosure surrounding the balcony attached to the Podium building.

But that idea has been brushed aside in order to make the funding stretch as far as it can go.

“It essentially didn’t reach the top of the priority list,” said Levy. “It would have eaten up such a large proportion of the funds that meant a whole lot of other things couldn’t get done that were really important to do.”

Dr. Linda Grayson, Vice President Administration and Finance, is working with Campus Planning and Facilities to decide which projects will be funded.

“Typically, what we do is take the money and put it in categories of most urgency,” Grayson said.

She said the Hub will be getting some floor and wall finishing over the winter break. Some of the other areas that may receive money include mechanical systems upgrades, heating and air conditioning and fire alarm updating.

Ian Hamilton, Director of Campus Planning and Facilities, said the $10 million may take a bit of time to spend. “Students will see impacts over the next school year,” said Hamilton.

“It will probably take us a year to spend that [money] or possibly more.”

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