Colwood’s Royal Roads University is considering building a pre-fabricated office complex with capacity for upwards of 150 workers as its looks to modernize its West Shore campus.

 

 

Royal Roads University (RRU) has issued an Invitation to Present – otherwise known as an information gathering process prior to the filing of a request for proposals – for firms specializing in quick format construction methods to provide the university with a breakdown of their experience in the pre-fabricated structure industry.

 

“The purpose of this Invitation to Present is to invite interested parties to present the functionalities and features of their prefabricated commercial buildings such that the university learns more about the functionality, design, construction and cost of this form of modular facility and gathers information that will be required in a proposed business case analysis,” the ITP states.

 

RRU has outlined a series of must-haves for the envisioned building that include a life expectancy of 35 years, a construction timeline that yields an occupancy permit within two years of the start date, and that the design be environmentally leading and accessible to persons with disabilities.

 

The area near Royal Road University's parking lot 4, accessible from the Sooke Road campus entrance, is envisioned as the future site of an office complex large enough to accommodate 150 workers.  Citified.ca

 

Currently 71 of RRU’s staff are working within a building the university calls “outdated,” and due to high maintenance costs of the structure, a new-build option is being considered that ties in to an infrastructure modernization program that has been underway for several years.

 

Although specifics like the design, footprint and massing of the project will not be known until chosen parties are further into the design process, the intended location for the project is in proximity to parking lot 4, which is situated within an oval-shaped gravel track immediately to the west of the main university thoroughfare connecting to the entrance on Sooke Road.

 

At this juncture, it is too early to speculate on a construction start date.

 

Founded in 1940, Royal Roads was built around the landmark Hatley Castle which was a real-estate holding of the Dunsmuir Family prior to its sale and that of the mansion’s 260-hectare estate to the federal government during World War II.

 

Initially operated as a military college, RRU transitioned to a public applied research university in the late 1990s. C

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