In December of 2023, the University of King’s College received a $1 million gift from the school’s chancellor Debra Deane Little, and her husband Bob Little, to find a designer for a new building on campus. On Thursday, King’s announced they’d found one and have begun releasing some early details.
In a press release on Sept. 26, the school announced that the contract to build a new 140,000-square-foot multi-purpose facility has been awarded to the Canadian architectural firm Diamond Schmitt in association with Abbott Brown.
The new facility, which will replace the current King’s gym at the southwest corner of campus, is meant to double the school’s on-campus housing by adding 287 new beds and “serve as a dynamic new hub” for King’s School of Journalism, Writing and Publishing. It will include a first-in-Canada “Centre for Excellence in Podcasting” and a new gym and wellness centre. King's 267-capacity residences were full before September this year, which has been a pattern as Halifax remains firmly in a housing crisis.
Martin Davidson, a principal architect at Diamond Schmitt, called the future building a “transformational project” in the release and an “innovative sustainably-driven facility for the 21st century.”
A spokesperson for King’s told The Coast through email that the project’s phase one, or “pre-design phase,” began on Sep. 10 and will last until April 2025. The $1 million gift from the Littles will be used to engage in “extensive internal and external community dialogues that will inform concept drawings and pre-design work” during this phase.
Once phase one is completed, the university will decide whether the project will be approved to proceed to schematic design, design development, and construction documentation.
These phases will take roughly two years, with tendering likely to occur in the summer of 2027. With another two years estimated for “construction and commissioning of the building,” “occupancy of the building” won’t start until September 2029.
According to the university, the final building could be as high as nine storeys, with a similar footprint to the current gym, but this is yet to be decided. The current estimate of costs is between $75 and $85 million for the project, although this number is subject to change throughout phase one. The budget will be set at the start of the schematic design.
Non-negotiables include:
- Doubling the housing on campus “for King’s students, [and] students from other Halifax universities and colleges, including international students
- Being an “architecturally stunning” building that hits LEED certification standards, is fully accessible in compliance with Nova Scotia’s Accessibility Act “and is connected to an Energy Transformation Plan with a geothermal project that will move the whole of King’s substantially toward net zero”
- A “state-of-the-art” home for the school’s School of Journalism, Writing & Publishing
- A modern gymnasium and wellness centre to replace the old gym
- A process that builds on the work King’s is doing on Truth and Reconciliation and Indigenization with Mi’kmaw partners “and further [enhances] King’s new partnership with Nova Scotia’s Black Cultural Centre”
- Supports King’s responsible enrolment growth, including international student enrolment
- Contributing to the university’s financial well-being “for decades to come”
- Advancing the university’s strategic vision “to be a diverse, accessible, sustainable, inclusive university with unique academic offerings in the liberal arts, journalism and creative writing programs”
Engagement is central to achieving these goals.
There is an extensive engagement team involved in the project by design. Says King’s , the role of this team is to “help the designers and King’s cultivate rich and meaningful relationships with the surrounding community, including the city and the province,” and that the team assembled by Diamond Schmitt and Abbott Brown will guide consultation “beginning with extensive dialogue with King’s students, faculty, staff, alumni and the broader Halifax community, all under the oversight and guidance of the Board of Governors.”
The release notes King’s’ partnerships with various groups that bring different expertise to the project:
- Diamond Schmitt Architects, who will act as lead and whose portfolio includes “over 150 academic facilities for 60 post-secondary clients across North America,” and whose firm is “recognized for its ability to respect heritage buildings across historical campuses while re-imagining them for the emerging pedagogies of the 21st century.”
- Halifax architecture firm Abbott Brown will bring “extensive experience in public and heritage projects in Nova Scotia and a deep understanding of local Maritime context and conditions.”
- Abbott Brown team members and co-directors of COLAB Sophia Horwitz and Greg Woolner will act as “public engagement facilitators” to help with consultation.
- Village Consulting will provide “sustainability leadership.”
- Kate MacDonald, an African Nova Scotian community facilitator, and Indigenous liaison Gary Joseph Goodstriker of Big River Cree First Nation, and part of the Sipekne’katik First Nation for 30 years, to “round out the engagement team to ensure…an inclusive environment where all members of [King’s’] community can thrive.”
Says King’s, the role of the engagement team is to “help the designers and King’s cultivate rich and meaningful relationships with the surrounding community, including the city and the province,” and that the team assembled by Diamond Schmitt and Abbott Brown will guide consultation “beginning with extensive dialogue with King’s students, faculty, staff, alumni and the broader Halifax community, all under the oversight and guidance of the Board of Governors.”
According to King’s, “engagement with the Mi’kmaq community has already started” through a discussion at a recent Mawaknutma’tnej circle. The school says “plans are underway for engagement with the African Nova Scotian community, including through our partnership with the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia.”
In the release Thursday, King's president William Lahey said, “Together, we’ll create a fully accessible space that moves King’s toward net-zero goals and confirms King’s leadership in the education of journalists and creative writers, the provision of supportive and affordable student housing and collegiate and community sports and recreation.” King’s has committed to being a net-zero school by 2050 and to reducing its emissions levels from 2005 by 53% by 2030, following the provincial Environmental Goals and Climate Change Reduction Act.
Said Lahey, “We look forward to the dialogues and discussions the team will conduct within and beyond King’s to create a state-of-the-art facility that reflects the rich history of Mi’kma’ki, as well as the history of King’s.”