Recent provincial grants for roof replacement and building envelope upgrades will allow the University of Calgary to address some of its most urgent asset renewal needs, but administrators emphasize that the $30 million infusion from the government of Alberta represents only a fraction of required investment. "We are looking at what we hope will be a very comprehensive program to redevelop the campus over time," says Bob Ellard, the University's Vice President of Capital Planning & Development.
 
Earlier this year, approximately $21 million was allocated for roofing projects on seven buildings, while a further $9 million was pledged for the building envelope program this summer.

Approximately $3.5 million is slated for a complete facelift of the social sciences building facade, including window and air barrier replacement. $1 million will be spent on several small projects to replace some windows and upgrade the façade on several buildings, and the remainder will go toward upgrades on buildings that have yet to be specified.

"Most of the buildings that we are targeting are part of the earliest buildings on campus. These buildings have 1965 technology, or 1970 technology at best," Ellard observes. "It is either old technology that isn't doing an adequate job or it's old technology that has failed."

For example, several generations of more energy-efficient windows have come onto to the market since the early vintage double glazed windows were initially installed in social sciences building and other campus buildings. Water penetration around aging windows is also damaging plaster inside buildings. "We are dealing with failure of joints around the windows connected to the precast," Ellard explains.

Design work for the retrofit is now underway. Construction will be scheduled for the summer of 2009 when it will be least disruptive for classes.

Funding for the University of Calgary's building envelope renewal program and 25 other designated priority maintenance/retrofit projects at 11 other post-secondary institutions comes from the Alberta government's surplus allocation policy, which will disperse $82.5 million over the next two years. These range in scale from a $210,000 window replacement project at NorQuest College to an $11.5-million mechanical system upgrade at Lakeland College. The University of Alberta received the largest total grant - $32.2 million for four upgrade and modernization projects.