The downtown lower campus will be busy again this summer as construction crews try to keep up with McGill’s significant infrastructure deficit.
Perhaps most visible among the projects will be important stone stabilization work at the Macdonald-Stewart Library building (which houses the Schulich Library of Science and Engineering). A gift to McGill from Sir William Macdonald, the building was built in 1893 to serve as a Physics building. In 1903, Ernest Rutherford published and won the Nobel Prize for discoveries derived from experiments conducted in the Macdonald Physics Building. In recent years, the building has undergone the replacement of its complicated roof, including the cap on its round tower. The work is expected to take several months.
There are also repairs required to the portico at the front of the Arts Building, which, as a precaution, is being secured for the time being with supportive screw jacks. There’s no specific timeline for the start of this work. The Arts Building is, of course, the oldest building on campus, dating to 1837.
A major renovation of the Law Faculty’s Old Chancellor Day Hall, beginning at the start of August, will include an upgrade of the heating and electrical system and the replacement and restoration of the windows. The Faculty has vacated the building until the summer of 2015 to allow this work to proceed.
At the M.H. Wong engineering building, work will begin in August to replace the stone work that has suffered from deterioration since the building was finished in 1997. That work will last until spring 2015.
Meanwhile, the City of Montreal is continuing its work replacing sewer and water lines along McTavish Street, between Sherbrooke St. and Dr. Penfield Ave., as well as beginning the substantial work on uncovering the McTavish Reservoir, replacing its membrane and replacing the covering, largely with artificial turf for a playing surface. This will keep the playing field closed for at least this summer and next.
And work continues on a new service tunnel under the Lyman Duff Building and the Neuro. This work will continue until 2016. The schedule of blasting will change soon to include the resumption of blasting from 7 until 7:30 in the morning, as well as from 12 noon to 12:15 p.m. and from 7 until 7:30 p.m.
As usual, people strolling around the downtown campus are reminded to obey security guards’ instructions and stay well away from construction sites, while watching out for moving vehicles and other power equipment. For more information, please visit the McGill Construction website.