A man scanning through a floor map for the Innovation Village project in Fanshawe College’s F Hallway Tuesday. (Photo: Kelly Wang)
Fanshawe College will not only look different by spring 2023, it will feel different.
Construction for the Innovation Village project is set to begin in the upcoming weeks, which will mostly take place in and around F Building.
“The project [focuses on] renovating [and] creating new spaces and great facilities for students,” said David Belford, the executive director of the project at the Innovation Village Open House in F Hallway on Tuesday.
“This includes renovating the spaces in the library, as well as creating a new room called the Indigenous Spirit Assembly Room.”
Other facilities that are in the works include interactive classrooms, additional small meeting rooms, a ‘maker space,’ multi-media and editing suites, and even a virtual reality room.
The project is split between three phases.
The first phase is set to renovate F Building, the second, L Building, and third, the SUB Building.
Phase one will focus on renovating library services and completing the Indigenous Spirit Assembly Room.
Phase two is the busiest, and covers projects including the virtual reality room, a multi-use space, a digital wall, as well as multi-media suites.
The final phase is set to complete renovations for Forewell Hall, launch a new pop-up retail space, and also add additional classrooms and studios.
F Hallway at Fanshawe College is buzzing! The Innovation Village Open House is sharing the school’s plans on implementing new and improved learning spaces that’s set to launch by spring 2023. #LdnOnt @FanshaweCollege pic.twitter.com/aEmEKEL7K5
— XFM News (@XFMNews) February 5, 2020
Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) president Keren Nanneti attended the Open House, which saw more than 100 interested passerby.
Nanneti says this is an exciting project for the school that will benefit students both academically and socially.
“We’re looking forward to completing [this] new, bright, complex but exciting project!” said the FSU president.
“Hopefully our students will love it just as much [as we do].”
For the next three years, certain relocations of services will be required due to the project’s construction.
But Nanneti says this will not cause major impacts for students.
“[Fanshawe’s] services will still operate, because we’re not taking any of them away… We’re just moving a couple of services from one place or another, which will not impact any access to any services.”
While the three-year countdown for the official launch of the Innovation Village project ticks down, Nanneti adds it’s a slow process that’ll be worth the wait.
“It’s a long journey that will create more opportunities for students… It’s going to [provide] wonderful experiences.”
