THUNDER BAY -- The president of Confederation College wants to see an overhaul of the school’s recreation facilities.
Especially if that means saying farewell to the bubble.
Jim Madder said the bubble component of the Fitness Centre is approaching 20 years and the structure is neither reliable nor efficient.
“On a (cold) day to heat it really is quite brutal in its operational cost. Our students would love to have a real gymnasium, so a double gym, as well as a running track,” he said on Friday.
“Sometimes in the next four or five years it will come down and it won’t go back up again. We’ll have a big storm and it just won’t be possible.”
Instead the college is looking at building new facilities for recreation as part of their new student village initiative, which kicked off with the start of construction on two of their new residence buildings.
In addition to adding a gymnasium, Madder said he is hearing from students that they are looking for expanded cardio and weight areas.
While there haven’t been any official proposals or votes, the college is exploring the idea of building a new wellness centre that would feature a gym, indoor running track, workout spaces and student success centres that would be attached to the Ryan Hall.
Some of the amenities of the bubble are underutilized by current college students.
That will likely be taken into account when planning out the new facility.
“It probably will not have all the functionality we currently have,” Madder said. “Very few of our students right now play tennis and there’s tennis in (the bubble) so some people will be concerned.”
He added the earliest a potential facility would open would be in 2017.
