[1]A 3D rendering of one of what one of the Northumberland wing’s hallways would look like by Kasian Architecture.
By Cody Starr [2]
BELLEVILLE – A third floor wing of Loyalist College is still closed off as renovations continue.
The college’s third floor is blocked off and has been under construction since the end of the 2017 winter semester. The objectives of the renovations are to update the internal structure of the area to give a more modern learning experience to those in practical nursing and other courses that are held in that wing of the college.
Mark Kirkpatrick, director of facilities and information technology services at Loyalist, says, “the 3N portion of the renovation is on schedule and planned for completion by the end of April 2018.”
Displaced practical nursing student, Erin Hatley said, “I mean we’re (getting) used to where everything is and relearning where to go and where our labs are. But, everything that they have done (is) still the same quality as what we were doing before” when referring to her professors trying to keep their program at the same level it was before they were displaced.
A silver lining to an issue that affected nursing students even before the renovations was lockers. But, as Heatley explains when they were moved it became less of an issue. “Getting nursing lockers is very hard to come by because they go by fast. So a good thing they’ve implemented for us is lockers to use for us temporally. So basically we go into the lab we have a locker there, put our stuff into and then we don’t have to worry about traveling halfway across the college to get a locker.”
Nothing out of the ordinary has happened so far, said Kirkpatrick.
“With any renovation you need expect things to come up, so far these have all been small (or) minor and as such nothing out of the ordinary,” he said.
“All project costs continue to be in line with expectations. We have a long way to go but so far so good.”
Last fall the federal government granted Loyalist $3.2 million from the Post-Secondary Strategic Investment Funding Program. The point of the program is to give colleges the capital they need to renovate their aging facilities and modernize them so they can keep up with trends and advancements in technology.
“We just thank all the hard work. And we appreciate the facilities upgrade. I mean nursing is constantly evolving and the fact that they’re are willing to implement the evolving situation within the lab setting is awesome because, it keeps us current and is just a good experience to see what’s in the lab and to experience the same situation in a clinical setting as well,” Heatley said.