Northern College campuses across the North are getting a collective $7-million makeover this spring.
On May 13, the college announced it’s investing the money in preparation for a return to in-class learning.
Headquartered in Timmins, the college operates satellite campuses in Kirkland Lake, Moosonee, and Haileybury.
“What we have learned over the past year is that as much as we can achieve learning via distance education efficiently and effectively, there is nothing like the energy created when we gather in the same space physically,” said Dr. Audrey J. Penner, Northern College's president and CEO, in a news release.
“We want to prepare for everyone being reunited in our northern spaces on each of our beautiful waterfront campuses that extend as far north as James Bay – Ontario’s only ocean-front campus. These renovations and restorations will help us welcome everyone back when this pandemic ends so that we can be together again.”
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At Kirkland Lake, frosted, cracked windows will be replaced with clear, energy-efficient ones, and brick facing will be replaced.
In Moosonee, ventilation systems will be installed in trade shops for carpentry, while the vet sciences labs at the Haileybury campus will be renovated and expanded.
In Timmins, the building envelope for the Innovation Lab will be restored, and a Sacred Garden with Indigenous medicines and outside gathering spaces will be planted.
The college said plans for the revocations have begun and will be staged in phases in order to follow physical distancing requirements.
