U of A looking for help to manage assets, cut its physical footprint

CBC

2 days ago

The University of Alberta is looking for someone to help it decide which assets to keep and let go of in the coming years, as it aims to reduce its physical footprint by up to 30 per cent.
A request for proposals (RFP) outlines the university's need to manage a fast-growing student population and a sprawling inventory of infrastructure and land. It cites a strategic plan, released in April, that states the U of A needs to assess its infrastructure needs to remain financially sustainable.
The U of A is seeking services to assemble a series of master plans to make sure its assets are used efficiently, a university spokesperson said in a statement to CBC News.
"These plans will identify how to best use current assets, what will be needed in the future, and what needs to change — all within the university's current footprint," the statement read.
The university faces "a number of competing priorities in a challenging fiscal environment," its space and facilities webpage says.
The U of A estimates its deferred maintenance will total more than $1 billion by the end of the year. The RFP said the university manages nearly 1.63 square kilometres of land, and more than 400 buildings — more than 60 per cent of which are over 40 years old.
"This is one of the largest volumes of buildings across the greatest land base of Canadian universities," the RFP said, adding that the U of A has the most space per student among Canada's U15 institutions — the country's top research universities.
Developing the master plans is expected to take two years, as the university works toward its goal of enrolling 60,000 students by 2033.
The goal is to analyze how much space the university has, how much it should have, and what it will need to accommodate that many students. It's looking for recommended steps, such as identifying which buildings are best suited for consolidation.
In the strategic plan, a map shows the intentions for campus infrastructure over the next 10 years. Several structures slated for disposal include the administration, human ecology and clinical sciences buildings.
Others, like the Humanities Centre and some of the older homes leased to fraternities, are marked as needing future study. The university announced it would be terminating lease agreements with multiple fraternities in the spring.
Universities across the country are figuring out how to efficiently use campus space, particularly amid financial pressures from dwindling international student enrolment and a sustained decline in government investment, said Gabriel Miller, president and CEO of Universities Canada, an advocacy group.
But historically, he said, infrastructure was more of a team effort between universities and government.
"Governments have been reluctant to play their role in that partnership," Miller said.
Miller said, during a time of renewed focus on national infrastructure projects, helping universities modernize and grow needs to be part of the conversation.
"Universities build roads. They provide water services. Oftentimes their recreation facilities are shared with the community," he said. "There's no reason why these anchors of our community shouldn't be eligible for community infrastructure investments."
This isn't the first time the U of A has had to take a hard look at its infrastructure footprint alongside cost pressures.
It sold the historic Ring Houses to a development company for materials in 2021.
It demolished and sold off the Mactaggart mansion — which had been donated by a local philanthropist — because it couldn't afford to maintain the property. That space is set to become Edmonton's first Nordic spa.
In 2022, the university expressed intention to remove the brutalist Humanities building, along Saskatchewan Drive, from its inventory because of mounting deferred maintenance.