Seneca College King Campus celebrates grand opening of $99M Magna Hall

Magna Hall is now the biggest facility on campus, with a capacity of 1,450 students.

Yorkregion.com
October 2, 2018
Sheila Wang

It’s a long time coming, but the brand-new Magna Hall is officially open to the students of Seneca College King Campus.

Hundreds of students and faculty members, joined by business representatives and government officials, gathered on Sept. 27 to celebrate the grand opening of Magna Hall, a newly built academic and athletic facility at the campus.

The new building, part of Seneca’s ongoing expansion project at King Campus, is currently the biggest facility at the campus with a capacity of 1,450 students.

Built on a lot which was previously used for parking, the three-storey facility is a much-needed project to accommodate the growing need for student enrolment in York Region, according Angelo Miranda, director of major capital projects at Seneca College.

York Region’s population grew by some 77,000 between 2006 and 2011, and King was the fastest growing municipality in the region, by 4.2 per cent per year in the same period of time, according to a report in November 2017.
“The building (Garriock Hall) was at over-capacity, so that’s one of the primary drives to build this new building,” Miranda said.

Garriock Hall, a two-storey facility located next to Magna Hall, is one of the three main academic buildings at King Campus.

Built in 1977, Garriock Hall was designed for approximately 1,800 students. There are around 4,000 full-time students currently enrolled at the campus.

The two buildings combined are now able to accommodate 5,200 students, allowing for the anticipated increasing enrolment at King Campus, which is currently the only post-secondary educational institution in York Region, Miranda said.

“There is really no comparison” between Garriock Hall and Magna Hall, Miranda added, noting the latter was designed and built with much more advanced technology.

“This one has a lot more space, a lot more natural light, much more technology-oriented. It’s a very environmentally efficient building to run.”

Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, unveiled the plaque of Magna Hall to mark its official opening with the witness of faculty members and students at the glass-walled, well-lit lobby of Magna Hall.

“The work done here at Seneca College is critical to the future of Ontario, to the economy and the prosperity of our people,” said Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, who addressed Seneca’s students and faculty at the opening ceremony.

The $99.2-million project includes 25 new classrooms, computer labs, specialty labs, a library, and student centre with a multi-purpose athletic and recreation space including a double gymnasium, fitness facility, dance studio, and indoor rock-climbing wall.

It also features new patient-care rooms with 40 beds equipped with almost everything one would find in a hospital.

“One of the things I like the most is the athletic centre,” said Aidan D’Souza, a second-year police foundation student at Seneca’s King Campus and also a cross-country athlete.

D’Souza said he comes to Magna Hall with his classmates frequently since it opened to students at the beginning of September.

“Just the look of the building. Look at it right now. It’s brand new, great, and you have the new building feeling. The students are excited to come here.”

A collaboration among several partners has helped make the project a reality. The province invested a total of $59 million, the Seneca Student Federation invested $7.3 million and the Student Athletic Association invested $11 million, according to a press release.

When the project was approved in 2011, the provincial government provided the funding through Infrastructure Ontario’s Alternate Financing and Procurement (AFP) construction delivery methodology -- an innovative way of financing and procuring larger, complex public infrastructure projects.

Magna Hall is named in recognition of Magna International, which has donated $3 million to the Campaign for King Campus.

Construction of Seneca's King Campus expansion began in August 2016, and the Magna Hall project was completed in May 2018.