McIntyre’s facelift

Confederation College is bringing its technology building into the 21st century.

The McIntyre building on the college campus is seeing $2.5 million in renovations this year as well as $2 million of new equipment.

"The project was badly needed in a sense of this building had not really been retrofitted since it was constructed in the early ’80s," said Joe Vieira, dean of technology, trades and aviation.
"We’re a technology building so we’d like to make some of these renovations to adapt some of the current technologies and accommodate some of the technologies we want to bring in."
The McIntyre project is phase two of retrofitting the college’s facilities after the education institute received $9.5 million from the province about a year and a half ago.

Phase one saw renovations and retrofits to the Dorion building where most of the trades programs are housed.

Vieira said what the students are anticipating most is a 2,600 square foot addition to the building that will become a student centre with a cafeteria, study area and a space for students to relax between classes.

"The students are pretty excited; they had input into the layout of the addition itself," Vieira said.

Other projects include changing some existing classrooms to alternative delivery classrooms like a mini lecture theatre and some lab rooms will be updated.

Vieira said they’re hoping that not only will the new programming get students excited, but they’re also projecting to see an additional 10-to-15 students into the school of technology.
The project is expected to wrap up by late August in time for the school year to begin, said Vieira.

"We sank the foundations before winter came, before the ground froze," he said. "We want to be ready to go as soon as the snow melts. We’re hoping that as soon as the students finish, the construction crews will come in May 1."