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On Wednesday, Saskatchewan Polytechnic announced that it will be closing down its Idylwyld Drive campus and moving to Innovation Place.
Larry Rosia, the technical school’s president and CEO, joined CKOM and CJME’s John Gormley on Friday to share more details about the project’s timeline and costs.
Rosia explained that the $200 million chipped in by the provincial government won’t cover the full cost of the project.
“This is a significant investment towards the total cost; it won’t be the whole cost,” said Rosia.
“We are also going to approach the federal government for some funding, because certainly this is an advantage for Saskatchewan, but also for all of Canada.”
A design render showing how Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s new campus might look when complete. (Scott Moe/Twitter)
Rosia said the school will also launch a capital fundraising campaign to help support the project.
The total cost is still unknown.
While Rosia couldn’t say the total cost of the new campus project, the president did provide an update on what the construction timeline could look like.
He said the school is eyeing 2029 for the completion of the new campus.
“This sort of a build would take three, three-and-a-half years to build,” said Rosia.
It’ll be a while before construction can begin, however.
“We’re going to do our functional programming, so (decide) what program goes where,” Rosia said. “The designers and architects will work with that so we can issue an RFP.”
Rosia said that phase will take about a year to complete.
At the announcement Wednesday, Premier Scott Moe said Saskatchewan has seen “record increases in student population” at post-secondary schools, and he expects that trend will continue.
“We need those educated young folks in our labour force, but I would say even more important than that, we need those young folks in our Saskatchewan communities making their home (and) raising their families,” Moe said.
“We really think we’ll set the bar and set the example for what the rest of Canada will strive to be,” he added.
The full interview with Rosia can be heard here.
–With files from Shane Clausing
