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Facts about the GIE

Location:

The Global Innovation Exchange Building (GIE) will be situated on the site of the former St. Michael’s school, on University Avenue West, between Hemlock and Hazel streets. It will be home to Laurier's School of Business & Economics and Department of Mathematics.

Design:

The GIE will be designed as a state-of-the-art educational facility. Its classrooms and meeting spaces will be equipped with technology to increase collaboration with Laurier’s partners around the globe. The exterior design will enhance Laurier’s presence on the University Avenue streetscape, and the design will aim to achieve a minimum of LEED silver certification.

Design by Diamond & Schmitt Architects and David Thompson Architect.
Approx. 225,000 sq.ft
Four storeys
Nine lecture halls (75-300 seats each)
Two-level, 1,000-seat auditorium
Computer and math labs
Meeting rooms
Faculty and administrative offices
Student club support spaces
Café
Atrium
Construction:

The design and construction schedule is being finalized, and construction will begin in May 2013. It is estimated that the construction process will take a total of four years, with plans to begin moving in the summer of 2015 for occupancy by the fall 2015 academic term.
Facility cost and funding:

The estimated project cost is $103 million, including renovations to the Peters Building.
The Ontario provincial government announced a $72.6 million investment in the GIE on June 20, 2011 – the largest single capital investment in the university’s history.
The remaining $30 million of the building’s cost will be raised through Laurier’s development efforts.

Taking a closer look at the GIE building site

September 18, 2013 | The Cord | LINK

Wilfrid Laurier University’s  grand Global Innovation Exchange (GIE) building is well under way, as construction has got off to a smooth start.

The tender was awarded to Bonfield Construction back in May, who started forming the base structure this past June.

“Right now we’re working on foundations and site works,” explained Mark Dettweiler, the director of planning, design and construction of Laurier physical resources.

“Mostly extrications, forming and pouring concrete.”

Dettweiler, who was largely involved in the planning and design of the new GIE building, is ecstatic to see the project come together.

He walked The Cord through blueprints of the GIE building and offered the opportunity to tour the construction site.

“The contract is the date of substantial completion, which right now is June 30 2015,” he said. “So approximately two years.”

His goal is to occupy the new GIE building by the fall 2015 term.

“It’s a pretty tight schedule,” he admitted.

The $103-million project is taking over the previous St. Michael’s Campus and will be the new home for Laurier’s Business and Economics faculty. The building will feature an atrium, a 1,000-person lecture hall, a café, and a unique classroom sloping off of the building.

However, for the size of the building, even with the contractors being finished in June, 2015, Dettweiler thinks that moving faculty members and classrooms will take longer than expected.

Once Laurier’s Business and Economics faculty makes the move, the arts faculty will occupy the current Schlegel Centre.

“Certainly taking over the offices,” Dettweiler said. “The classrooms were really just a shared resource [and] arts is out of space in the Dr. Alvin Woods Building (DAWB), so we’re having ideas that their faculty will take over the current business building.”

Dettweiler also mentioned that the Schlegel Centre would undergo minor renovations and updates once the GIE building has been completed.

He has not commented on whether the Schlegel Centre will be renamed once the arts faculty occupies it.

However, as of now, the only progress that the GIE building has experienced is strictly structural.

Come winter, Dettweiler explained that Bonfield will switch to “winter construction techniques.”

“What you’ll see different, [if] they’re still working on foundation, is that they would start to insulate the forms and bring in some heat.”

“We’re not taking the winter off,” he promised.