A scale-model of the University of Montreal pavilion that will open its doors to students in September of 2009.
(Photo: Courtesy of Pomerleau)
Construction of 'City of Knowledge' soon to get underway
Pomerleau wins bid and $50 million contract
Negotiations implicating the developer and the University of Montreal are proceeding effectively, affirms the institution’s Assistant Vice-Rector for Administration, Éric Filteau, who’s hopeful of reaching an agreement in the next few weeks.
Underway since autumn, the discussions essentially resolve around the length of the lease and the cost of renting the building to be erected on the lot adjacent to Montmorency Metro Station. The university will be the facility’s principal tenant.
“Our framework for project management is strictly controlled and has to respect our capacity to pay,” notes Mr. Filteau, adding that his organization is in this venture for the long term, a consideration that makes it imperative to leave nothing to chance.
In any case he does concede that time is pressing, considering his venerable institution has plans of taking up residence at the pavilion by the opening of classes in late summer of 2009.
Six stories
The signing of the lease will be the boost needed to start construction of the principal part of an evolving ‘City of Knowledge’ conceived and designed by the Pomerleau Group, whose bid topped all others submitted when the calls for tenders went out last summer.
The pavilion is targeted for 15,000 square meters spread over six stories. “It’s the amount of space we could commit to,” explained the spokesperson for the University of Montreal, which will occupy four-and-a-half of the building’s six stories. A part of the ground floor is slated for commercial use, while a complete floor will be given over to office space unrelated to university services, assures Éric Filteau.
“The HEC (Hautes Études Commerciales) has a rental agreement with us but they are an affiliated school,” he adds, specifying that no other university will be offering courses in this first phase of the ‘City of Knowledge’.
This appears to be a change in policy from four years earlier when Ville de Laval granted the University of Montreal exclusivity over post-secondary, post-collegial programs to be offered in the heart of the projected ‘City of Knowledge’. At that time, the University’s Rector raised the possibility of including UQAM and Concordia in the programs offered, provided these were complementary and not competitive with those offered by the U of M, the HEC and the École de Polytechnique.
Expansion
As of year one, the equivalent of 900 full-time students are anticipated to register for courses, rising to 1300 in 2010 and 1700 the third year, according to projections.
“We have an option on other space available on neighbouring land,” says the U of M Vice-Rector, while the city has already said it has reserved the entire quadrilateral for university infrastructures.
Considering projections of the Institut de la statistique du Québec (Quebec Statistics Institute) that point to Laval’s population growing by 16.5% in the next 20 years and that the population of the Laurentides and Lanaudière regions will expand faster than that of Laval, it’s a strong likelihood the University of Montreal will exercise its option on the land before its due date in 2017.
Health and education
Already a presence in Laval through its Permanent (Adult) Education Programs, the University of Montreal will begin to offer comprehensive programs leading to Bachelor Degrees in health and education.
In health, the programs envisaged are in nursing science and related fields, although it’s clear no programs in medicine will be set up in Laval. These will remain the preserve of the University’s central campus and the CHUM-affiliated hospitals.
The ‘City of Knowledge’ pavilion will have a direct link to the Montmorency Metro Station, with the plan calling for 300 underground parking spaces to be provided on three levels. (Photo: Courtesy of Pomerleau)
Photo:Ville
(Photo: Courtesy of Pomerleau)
Steven Guilbeault - 
