GIE building delayed

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File Photo by Serena Gill
File Photo by Serena Gill

For the the second time since it began construction, the Global Innovation Exchange buildingโ€™s completion date has been delayed.

Wilfrid Laurier University students will have to wait another year after extreme winter conditions pushed the GIE buildingโ€™s schedule potentially back to January 2016. The building was originally set to be completed by May 2015, then was pushed to September 2015 before the latest delay.

โ€œWe had originally wanted to be in there for the fall term, [but] thatโ€™s not going to be possible unless we really sacrifice quality, which weโ€™re not willing to do,โ€ said Mark Dettweiler, director of planning, design and construction at Laurierโ€™s physical resources department.

Dettweiler explained while the main reason for the delay was the weather, other issues were involved with the contractor, Bondfield Construction.

โ€œThey needed to apply a certain amount of resources, manpower and so on to maintain that schedule and they have not maintained that schedule so they are entitled to some extension due to weather,โ€ he continued. โ€œThereโ€™s also been what I would call โ€˜slippageโ€™ in the schedule thatโ€™s pushing back the completion date as well.โ€

Laurierโ€™s contract with Bondfield says workers have to maintain the same rate of production through harsh winter conditions that you would experience in a normal Canadian winter.

Dettweiler said the biggest issue at the moment is a skylight in the middle of the building that cannot be completed until signs of spring emerge.

โ€œWe just havenโ€™t been able to make any progress on it, so we have this huge hole in the middle of our building thatโ€™s opened to the weather. So thatโ€™s kind of then impacted other things,โ€ he said.

โ€œThere are things that we are doing โ€” certainly all of the building systems โ€” the mechanical, electrical systems [and] so on are on track, but whatโ€™s difficult is we canโ€™t really work on any of the finishes until that skylight is done.โ€

According to Dettweiler, Laurier chose to sacrifice their short time schedule in order to maintain low costs and high quality.

โ€œTime is the one thing that sometimes we canโ€™t afford to give.โ€

Shane Lawrence, a third-year business student, said he wishes the GIE building could have been completed for its expected due date, and noted that business students donโ€™t have a lot of space to study.

โ€œItโ€™s frustrating that Laurier continues to grow the program and take more and more students with nowhere for us to go. There is never any space to study โ€” everywhere is always packed,โ€ he said.

Despite having no confirmed completion date, Dettweiler said the university hopes to get professors teaching in the GIE building by January 2016.


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