Articles tagged with: 15 artists’ common

• Halfway home: It’s good news for Brock’s downtown arts school

  Tuesday, February 11, 2014 | By Brock University

  

  (Source: The Brock News, Tuesday, February 11, 2014)

  The construction of Brock University’s new arts school in downtown St. Catharines has passed the midway point, as workers have kept the major project moving along despite this winter’s harsh weather.

  Three senior University officials appeared before St Catharines City Council on Monday Feb 10 with an update on the $45-million project that will house the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

  And their news was good.

  “We’re on time, and we’re on budget,” said Brian Hutchings, Vice-President of Finance and Administration, who joined President Jack Lightstone and Humanities Dean Douglas Kneale for the council presentation. Hutchings said the Walker School is still scheduled to be open for September 2015.

  Lightstone, who first proposed the idea of twin downtown arts projects when he appeared in the same council chamber seven years ago, said the urban-centre location lets the University play a role in helping local communities. The University and City worked together to find a site for the Brock project in an industrial heritage building, the former Canada Hair Cloth plant.

  “Brock University is proud to be a partner and supporter of St Catharines, and indeed of Niagara,” said Lightstone. “For years Brock has publicly stated that one of our top priorities is to help strengthen our host communities intellectually, socially, culturally and economically.”

  Kneale said creating a new centre of learning in the shell of an old industrial site is a “perfect metaphor” that will help future generations become part of Canada’s billion-dollar cultural sector.

  “We are taking a 19th-century textile factory and turning it into a state-of-the-art facility for more than 500 students,” said Kneale. “Opportunities like this happen but once in a lifetime.”

  As part of the presentation, city councillors viewed a video presentation on the project done by Tracy van Oosten, a Brock graduate of visual arts and film studies.

  At the worksite, the full footprint of the Walker School is now visible. The main structure for the project’s new construction – mainly, the new dramatic arts theatre – is up, and now workers will largely focus on the complex interior work in all of the buildings, the most time-consuming being the renovation and repurposing of the older structures.

  The University and City arts projects were the initial catalysts of a massive downtown renewal initiative, which now also includes the Meridian Centre, a 4,500-seat ice rink and spectator facility expected to be completed this autumn.

  Tags: 15 artists' common, canada hair cloth building, downtown revitalization, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
  Categories: In the Media, News

• Arts centres on time and on budget: Brock, St. Catharines

  Tuesday, February 11, 2014 | By Brock University

  

  (Source: The St. Catharines Standard, Tuesday, February 11, 2014 | By Marlene Bergsma)

  Construction on both the city’s Performing Arts Centre and Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts is on time and on budget – but the recent cold snap has forced the city’s contractor to rent ground-thawing equipment.

  Brock president Jack Lightstone told St. Catharines councillors it’s been seven years since he first made a presentation to council suggesting a partnership to revitalize downtown, and he said Brock continues to be “proud to be a partner and supporter of St. Catharines and Niagara.”

  With an anticipated enrolment of 500 students plus faculty and staff, and the city’s construction of an adjacent performing arts centre, the Walker school of art “will truly revitalize the downtown core of the city,” Lightstone said.

  Brock’s VP of finance and administration, Brian Hutchings, said construction and renovations on Brock’s part of the project are “50% done, and we are on time and on budget.”

  Showing pictures to council, Hutchings said the university is preserving much of the character of the former Canada Hair Cloth building, by showcasing wooden pillars, exposed masonry and existing windows.

  Douglas Kneale, Brock’s Dean of Humanities, said turning the former factory building into classrooms and rehearsal studios “is the perfect metaphor for St. Catharines’ industrial past and post-industrial future.”

  Quoting English Romantic poet William Blake, Kneale said the project is turning “dark Satanic mills” into engines of education and creativity. Kneale also described the state-of-the-art music practice rooms that will offer acoustic isolation with sound-blocking walls, ceilings and windows, and the perfect humidity for singers’ voices and musical instruments.

  Meanwhile a significant part of the foundation has been poured for the city’s performing arts centre project. An aerial shot of the site, taken recently, shows the elevator shaft on the left, next to the crane, and a dark hole in the centre of the frame, which will provide the stairway access to Brock’s school of arts, said St. Patrick’s Coun. Mark Elliott. On the bottom left is bare earth which will be the site of Partridge Hall, the centre’s biggest venue with 775 seats, which will boast sophisticated and invisible acoustical panels which can be automatically adjusted for the type of concert or event.

  Parks and recreation director Rick Lane said the city’s project is also on time and on budget, although the cold weather which has frozen the ground has posed some problems for Bird Construction, which has been using heaters to thaw the earth so they can continue with necessary excavation.

  Mayor Brian McMullan thanked Lightstone for the “vision and passion” he has brought to the project, and said it was “one of the reasons it succeeded and it will truly be a transformative project.”

  Lightstone also showed a video showcasing Brock’s arts programs.

   

  Tags: 15 artists' common, downtown revitalization, miwsfpa
  Categories: In the Media, News

• Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts is breaking new ground

  Thursday, June 13, 2013 | By Brock University

  

  From left: Douglas Kneale, Dean, Faculty of Humanities; John Suk, Vice-Chair, Brock Board of Trustees; Jack Lightstone, Brock University President and Vice-Chancellor; Jim Bradley, MPP, St. Catharines; Marilyn I. Walker; Mark Elliott, councilor, City of St. Catharines; Joe Robertson, Chair, Brock Board of Trustees; Derek Knight, director, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

  Faculty, students, senior administration and local politicians gathered on Friday May 31st to celebrate the ground-breaking ceremony for the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. With a budget of $39.6 million, the project will transform the former Canada Haircloth textile mill into an educational, creative and presentation complex of some 600 students, faculty and staff. Following the move to full construction mode in January 2012 the faculty, staff and students will begin their work in the innovative facility at 198 St. Paul in September 2015.

  Noting that the new facility will be “an economic hub for arts and digital media” and fuel the revitalization of downtown St. Catharines, Jack Lightstone, President and Vice-Chancellor of Brock University, remarked told the gathering that the new Walker School “is a tribute to the concept of community partnership. This is much more than a building. It is a statement about what can happen when many hands work together to build a better future.”

  Douglas Kneale, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, described the new facility for the school as a “living, breathing furnace of innovation” where artists of all disciplines “collide creatively …like sparks off a flint.” He continued:
  “In return, the community of St. Catharines will catch fire and experience in new ways the transcendence, the ache, the wow that only the arts can give us.”

  The facility project includes the renovation of existing buildings, some of which date to the mid-19th century, and the construction of new purpose-built facilities. In order to preserve the visual appeal of the historic architecture much of the retrofitting and renovation will take place indoors. The landmark’s exterior will be refurbished with new windows and restored brickwork.

  The project received $26.2 million from the Ontario government and is also being supported by generous partners from across the community. Marilyn I. Walker’s gift of $15 million was the remarkable catalyst for the creation of this much-anticipated complex that will serve the teaching, learning, and creative research in the fine and performing arts at Brock University.

  As well as shared spaces such as the new MIWSFPA learning commons, digital media lab, and praxis lecture hall, the department of Dramatic Arts will enjoy four performance studios (two of which can be used for public presentation), a carpentry and woodworking shop, costume shop and storage facility, design studio, and a new flexible studio theatre for teaching and presentation twelve months of the year.  The Department of Visual Arts will also be programming a new Visual Arts Exhibition Gallery, adjacent.

  Students of the School will also be using the film/video theatre and music recital hall built by the City of St. Catharines in the adjacent Performing Arts Center also scheduled to open in 2015.

  You can follow the construction of the Performing Arts Centre and the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (top of screen) at the Performing Arts Centre Construction Cam.

  Tags: 15 artists' common, canada hair cloth building, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
  Categories: News

• Groundbreaking ceremony for the Walker School

  Friday, May 31, 2013 | By Brock University

  

  From left: Douglas Kneale, Dean, Faculty of Humanities; John Suk, Vice-Chair, Brock Board of Trustees; Jack Lightstone, Brock University President and Vice-Chancellor; Jim Bradley, MPP, St. Catharines; Marilyn I. Walker; Mark Elliott, councilor, City of St. Catharines; Joe Robertson, Chair, Brock Board of Trustees; Derek Knight, director, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

  May 31, 2013
  University Marketing & Communications
  905-688-5550 x4687

  Supporters raise a cheer as downtown Walker School takes shape

  Partners, politicians and downtown boosters joined Brock University officials today in a celebration at the St. Catharines construction site that will be the new home of Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

  Amid scaffolding and construction equipment, workers paused for about 30 minutes while guests got a close-up look at the progress and saluted the efforts of designers, engineers and project leaders who have stewarded the major initiative through more than two years of planning.

  Marilyn Walker herself wielded a shovel alongside University President Jack Lightstone, Brock Board Chair Joe Robertson and other officials for a ceremonial ground-breaking, even though the site has been a hive of activity for several months.

  With a budget of $39.6 million, the project will transform the former Canada Haircloth textile mill into an innovative teaching facility whose 500 students, faculty and staff will help revitalize the city centre when they relocate from Brock’s main campus in 2015. Situated between a new Performing Arts Centre and a new Spectator Facility, which are being built by the City of St. Catharines, the school is one of several major projects that will dramatically change the face of the city core.

  The Brock project received $26.2 million from the Ontario government, and is also being supported by numerous generous partners from across the community.

  Lightstone told today’s gathering that the new Walker School “is a tribute to the concept of community partnership. This is much more than a building. It is a statement about what can happen when many hands work together to build a better future.”

  The project moved into full construction mode in January after Brock entered into an agreement with the low bidder, Bird Construction Group. Much of the project involves renovating existing buildings, parts of which are from the area’s industrial heritage and date to the 19th century. While the retrofitting will largely take place indoors, the landmark’s exterior will be visually refreshed with new windows and restored brickwork. Plus there will also be new construction when a dramatic arts theatre rises in the coming months and invigorates the downtown landscape.

  For more info: Jeffrey Sinibaldi, media relations, Brock University, 905-688-5550 x4687; jsinibaldi@brocku.ca

  Tags: 15 artists' common, groundbreaking ceremony, marilyn i. walker, media release, miwsfpa
  Categories: Media Releases, News

• Brock signs contract to build arts school

  Friday, January 18, 2013 | By Brock University

  

  (Source: Niagara This Week, January 18, 2013 | By Mike Zettel)

  Brock has signed a construction contract with Bird Construction Group to build its new fine and performing arts facility in downtown St. Catharines.

  Activity at the site of the old Canada Hair Cloth textile mill at 198 St. Paul Street is expected to start the week of Jan. 21, 2013, with site preparations beginning in early February.

  Construction bids for the project were received in October 2012 and all six bids were over the University’s $26-million budget. The budget was based on the design prepared by Diamond Schmitt Architects, and on the cost estimate prepared by cost consultants Turner & Townsend cm2r.

  Every bid was more than $6 million over the budget.

  Bird Construction Group’s bid came in at $32.2 million, while the others were: ACCEL Construction Management – $32,400,000; Merit Contractors Niagara – $33,290,000; EllisDon Corporation – $33,469,000; Graham Construction & Engineering – $33,900,000; and Carillion Canada Inc – $33,950,000.

  Brock then entered into successful negotiations with Bird Construction, the low bidder for the new home of the University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts facility, to reduce construction costs and move the project forward.

  Brian Hutchings, vice-president of finance and administration, said they were able to shave between $2 and $2.5 million off the $6-million cost overrun. He said the new budget, which is still between $3.5 and $4 million above the original, was presented to Brock’s board of trustees, and it was approved.

  Moving forward, he said Brock will attempt to fundraise the difference, noting that naming rights for the schools are still up for grabs. If the fundraising efforts are not successful, Brock may have to incur additional debt.

  “Worst case, we’ll have to finance it,” Hutchings said.

  As to how the savings were achieved, Scott Walker, director of planning, design and construction, said it wasn’t easy as they thought they had a lean project to begin with. He said when the bids came over budget for the city project, they double checked their numbers.

  He said they looked at literally every aspect of the project and made between 100 and 150 little changes to trim costs.

  He said the team worked with the academic department — the eventual end users for the school — to see what savings could be achieved.

  Examples include using different materials, such as cheaper bricks and tiles, to eliminating drywall ceilings in some parts, narrowing sidewalks, and straightening out walls and a staircase that had been designed with a curve. They even found a cheaper model of toilets.

  “The majority of the savings are made up of little pieces,” he said. “We left no stone unturned.”

  At the end of the day, he said, the overall design looks very similar to the original.

  Brock says there will be a mark the official start of the project with a groundbreaking ceremony in mid-February.

  The facility will put about 500 students, faculty and staff into the city’s downtown when it relocates from Brock’s main campus. The new school will be adjacent to a new Performing Arts Centre and Spectator Facility, which are being built by the City of St. Catharines.

  Hutchings said constructed is expected to wrap up by May 2015, with students starting classes the following September.

  Tags: 15 artists' common, miwsfpa
  Categories: In the Media, News

• Brock reaches arts school deal

  Friday, January 18, 2013 | By Brock University

  

  (Source: The Welland Tribune, Friday, January 18, 2013 | By Jeff Bolichowski)

  Brock University will shell out a little more cash in a new deal to build its downtown arts school.

  The university announced it’s reached a deal with Bird Construction Group to build the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. Bird was the low bidder in October when Brock received a raft of over-budget bids for the school, to be built at the old Canada Hair Cloth building.

  Bids came in about $6 million over budget, but Brock vice president of finance Brian Hutchings said the school negotiated a lower cost with the company. He said figures still have to be finalized but the school will likely end up paying around $30 million, rather than the $26 million budgeted.

  “We’ve been able to do some value engineering on the project. We’re approximately two to three million dollars less,” he said.

  “We believe Brock’s getting a very good deal. Bird’s a very good partner on this.”

  Scott Walker, the school’s campus planning, design and construction director, said Bird’s bid came in around $32.2 million. He figured the school is saving around $2.1 million.

  Most of the design changes, he said, involve using cheaper materials. They’ll use cheaper bricks, cheaper roof materials and even cheaper toilets.

  Curved walls will be straighten out to save money, he said, and the foundation design will be simplified.

  Hutchings said the changes include scratching the use of suspension ceilings and leaving a formerly covered walkway uncovered.

  Most of what was cut, he said, was “some nice-to-haves, but nothing that was necessary.”

  Walker said the school cut everything it feasibly could without compromising space. It was by and large “a whole bunch of mostly small things” that have added up.

  “If we take any more out of it, we’d have to make it a smaller building.”

  Hutchings said Brock is prepared to go over its initial budget to build the school.

  “At this point, we’re obviously going to look for any other donors for the building. The building’s looking for a name,” he said.

  He said the school would also free up 45,000 square feet of space on campus. That means more space for tuition and programs.

  A groundbreaking ceremony is expected to be held in February but activity is expected to begin next week.

  The early work would mostly entail fencing and work on the foundation.

  The deal follows bids on the school coming in well over budget in October.

  It also follows bids on the city’s nearby performing arts centre coming in over budget in August.

  Tags: 15 artists' common, miwsfpa
  Categories: In the Media, News

• Work to begin on Brock’s downtown arts school

  Tuesday, March 20, 2012 | By Brock University

  

  The new home of the Marilyn I Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

  After more than a year of planning and design, construction will soon begin at the future home of Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts in a vacant factory in downtown St. Catharines.

  Following a tendering process, a contract has been awarded to JMX Environmental Inc. to conduct preliminary work this spring at the site of the former Canada Hair Cloth textile mill at 198 St. Paul Street.

  This “Early Works” phase involves clearing interior space and abatement of hazardous materials within the building. Work should begin in late March and take about three months to complete.

  Crews will remove some interior non-load-bearing walls and redundant services, and deal with hazardous materials that are common in older buildings. Asbestos floor and ceiling tiles will be removed, as will asbestos insulation on water pipes. Workers will also remove or seal surfaces containing lead-based or chromium-based paints. All environmental abatement work must pass inspections and meet regulatory requirements.

  The Walker School will put about 500 students, faculty and staff into the city’s downtown when the facility relocates from the main Brock campus in 2014. It is part of a collaboration that includes a new Performing Arts Centre being built on adjacent land by the City of St. Catharines.

  from University Marketing & Communications
  March 20, 2012

  Tags: 15 artists' common, canada hair cloth building, downtown revitalization, downtown St. Catharines, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, University Marketing & Communications
  Categories: In the Media, News