Emily Carr University Announces Shortlisted Architects for New Campus

Emily Carr University of Art + Design's campus redevelopment project reached a critical milestone this week. Three proponents have been shortlisted following a Request for Qualifications to design, build, finance and maintain the new state-of-the-art campus at Great Northern Way.

Eight national and international proponent teams responded to the RFQ, and the list was narrowed down to the following three:

• Applied Arts Team
  • Brookfield Financial Corp.
  • EllisDon Corporation
  • EllisDon Capital Inc.
  • Fengate Capital Management Ltd.
  • Diamond and Schmitt Architects Incorporated
  • Chernoff Thompson Architects
  • Johnson Controls Inc.
• BC Education Partners
  • Bouygues Building Canada
  • InfraRed Capital Partners
  • Bouygues Energies and Services Canada
  • Bing Thom Architects
• Tandem Education Partners 
  • Balfour Beatty Investments, a division of Balfour Beatty Group Canada Inc.
  • Gracorp Capital Advisors Ltd.
  • Connor Clark & Lunn GVest Traditional Infrastructure LP
  • Graham Design Builders LP
  • Balfour Beatty Construction
  • B+H Architects Inc.
  • Zeidler Partnership Architects 

A request for proposals will be issued to the three teams in Fall 2013 and Emily Carr will award the contract in the Summer 2014. Construction of the campus will begin in the early Fall of 2014, with an expected completion date sometime in 2016.

The capital cost of the project is up to $134 million, the bulk of which will be paid for by the BC government (up to $113 million). The remaining costs will be paid through a capital campaign to be launched next spring by the university. 

The building will be designed to LEED Gold standards, and will maximize the interior and exterior use of wood. The site comprises 3.4 acres west of the new Centre for Digital Media at Great Northern Way.

The campus will further BC’s reputation as a destination for world-class post-secondary education by allowing the university to enhance the education and skills training in media, design and art programs in ways that have not been possible due to site constraints of the current Granville Island campus. The move will put Emily Carr at the centre of a new social, cultural, educational, and economic engine for British Columbia.

Founded as the Vancouver School of Art in 1925, Emily Carr University of Art + Design is the only specialized post-secondary institution in British Columbia offering programs in Fine Arts, Media Arts and Design exclusively. Emily Carr is one of only four such institutions in Canada, and is consistently recognized nationally and internationally for the excellence of its faculty, students and alumni.