June 30, 2009

HARIRI PONTARINI ARCHITECTS

The new home of the Richard Ivey School of Business, a three-storey, glass and cut-stone structure, is to be completed by March 2011. A LEED Silver designation is being targeted.

Western's school of business to get new home

Project is the largest in university’s history

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

The University of Western Ontario is poised to break ground this summer on a $100 million building to house the Richard Ivey School of Business. The project is the largest in the university’s history.

Designed by Toronto’s Hariri Pontarini Architects, the 235,000-square-foot glass and cut-stone structure will bring faculty, staff and students under one roof. Currently, they are dispersed across five different locations.

John Irwin, the university’s chief financial officer, said Ivey “urgently” needs a new consolidated facility that will ensure it can continue to compete successfully with business schools around the world.

The three-storey building will be built on the west side of Western Road in front of Brescia University College where soccer pitches currently are located.

The project is to be completed by March 2011.

“The student experience is paramount in the design,” said architect Siamak Hariri. “Considerable time and energy has been invested in designing a student experience that is world-class — comparable to any top business school worldwide.”

The new building will be the second on campus to be LEED-certified.

The strategy includes incorporation of energy-conserving systems and landscaping that favours native species. LEED Silver is being targeted.

The project is being fast-tracked in order to meet the construction schedule.

Irwin said the design is in process, with the business school and the architects “aggressively” working on programming elements. A contractor is expected to be retained shortly.

The project team includes structural engineering consultants Halcrow Yolles and mechanical and electrical engineering consultants Smith + Andersen Consulting Engineering. Landscape architect is Janet Rosenberg + Associates.

The federal and provincial governments each are providing $25 million under post-secondary infrastructure investment programs. The university is contributing $22.5 million and Ivey is raising $27.5 million from private donations.

An estimated 600 jobs are expected to be created during construction.

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