Village Gamer

A preferred proponent has been selected for the Emily Carr University of Art + Design campus redevelopment project, marking an important step toward a new home for the university at Great Northern Way. Applied Arts Team and its design partners have been selected as the preferred proponent that will enter into final negotiations with Emily Carr University of Art + Design to deliver the project. This follows an extensive evaluation of proponent teams that were shortlisted and invited to submit proposals to design, build, finance and maintain the new campus.

“It is great to see that a new, state-of-the-art campus for Emily Carr University is one step closer to becoming a reality,” said Advanced Education Minister Amrik Virk. “The university is internationally renowned for its contributions to the creative sector, and the world-class new campus at Great Northern Way will enable its graduates to continue to make major contributions to this important part of British Columbia’s economy.”

The next stage in the competitive selection process is to negotiate with Applied Arts Partners to settle the final terms of the contract, a process that is expected to culminate in a performance-based contract by February 2015. Final details about the design, contract and fixed project cost will be made public after the agreement has been finalized.

“With today’s milestone, we move even closer toward the creation of a new campus at Great Northern Way,” said president and vice-chancellor, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Dr. Ron Burnett. “Our new campus will be the beginning of a creative cultural precinct and a centre for 21st-century learning in art, design, media and applied research.”

Emily Carr has outgrown its current Granville Island campus due to increased student demand and the need to accommodate current and emerging program areas. The new campus will accommodate more than 1,800 students and provide state-of-the-art facilities that will attract national and international students and enhance B.C.’s reputation for world-class post-secondary education. International student applications to the university have grown by 46% over the last five years and currently 19% of FTE students come from outside Canada.

The capital cost of the project is budgeted at up to $134 million, including a provincial investment of up to $113 million dollars, with the remainder to be raised through the university’s current capital campaign THE BIG IDEA. Construction on the project is anticipated to begin in spring 2015, and the new campus is expected to be complete in 2017, creating an estimated 1,500 jobs during construction.

A fairness advisor, Jane Shackell, Q.C. was appointed to oversee and monitor the entire evaluation process to ensure that it was fair and followed the requirements outlined in the request for proposals (RFP). The report of the fairness advisor concluded that the process for selecting the preferred proponent was fair, reasonable and appropriate. The fairness advisor’s report will be publicly available on Partnerships BC’s website when the contract is final.

Quick Facts:

• The project site is situated at the Great Northern Way Campus, located at Great Northern Way and East 1st Ave. in Vancouver. The site of the new Emily Carr facility comprises three acres west of the new Centre for Digital Media.
• The new building will be designed to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standards and will maximize the interior and exterior use of wood, in keeping with the B.C. government’s Wood First Act.
• Founded as Vancouver School of Art in 1925, Emily Carr is the only specialized post-secondary institution in B.C. offering programs in fine arts, media arts and design exclusively. Emily Carr is one of only four such institutions in Canada and is consistently recognized nationally and internationally for the excellence of its faculty, students and alumni.

Members of Applied Arts Partners include:

• Co-Consortium Leads:
  • Brookfield Financial Corp
  • EllisDon Capital Inc.
• Design:
  • Diamond Schmitt Architects Inc.
  • Chernoff Thompson Architects
• Construction:
  • EllisDon Corporation
• Finance:
  • Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P.
  • EllisDon Capital Inc.
  • Fengate Capital Management Inc.
• Service Provider:
  • Johnson Controls Inc.