July 29, 2021

The pandemic has put a hold on many in-person activities since March 2020. But when it comes to improving and expanding facilities at Seneca, it has been a very busy year. Here are six projects that will grab your attention and help ease the transition back to campus in the coming months and beyond.

You can now count 205 new trees and 2,180 new shrubs, all native to Ontario, among Seneca’s landscaping at Newnham Campus.

Funded in part by the City of Toronto’s Greening Partnership Grant, this year’s landscaping  projects covered the quad outside of the newly renovated food hall, two new gardens on the north side of the campus between buildings B and D and in the green areas around parking lots 2, 3 and 4.

These initiatives build on the multi-year landscaping renovation at Newnham Campus to create a more sustainable and naturalized landscape for you and the birds, bugs and pollinators.

The new market-style food hall at Newnham Campus is complete. While not all food stations will open in September, this is where you’ll find grills, daily specials, salads and soups. Fresh and local foods will be prepared in a new kitchen.

The food hall doesn’t just look bigger – it’s double the size of the old cafeteria and expands outdoors to a canopied courtyard. You’ll have a variety of seating options to choose from.

A self-order food kiosk will be installed as Seneca goes cashless this fall, and a team of artists is working on a series of murals for the food hall that illustrate Seneca’s stories.

Our students said “no” to waiting in line at a counter for a service that can be done online or at a self-serve kiosk. And they said “yes” to virtual appointments, even after in-person activities resume. They’ll get both.

Work is underway in Building D at Newnham Campus to create a central service hub, totalling about 724 square metres. As part of the Seneca Au Large initiatives to enable a more virtual and self-serve delivery model, the counters in the Registrar’s Office, Financial Aid and Admissions area are gone.

Instead of having to go from one department to another for support, students will find what they need in this one-stop hub, which will offer both self-serve options and consultation hubs for in-person services. Construction is slated for completion later this year. 

Come this fall, students and employees will be able to access computers and monitors in more areas across Newnham Campus. The Computing Commons will still be there, but about a quarter of its computers, plus some new ones, will be dispersed to six locations in buildings A, A+ and B.

Those who spend a lot of time in the southern end of Building A will find six new computer stations in the student lounge on the third floor and 38 on the fourth floor.

In the corridors in Building A+ there are eight new stations on the third and fourth floors. And in the area between A and A+, there’ll be 12 new stations near the elevators. Near the Campus Store in Building B, 16 new stations will be available.

Each new station will come with new furniture. The Computing Commons will get a facelift to include furniture designed for collaboration.

The new parking garage at Newnham Campus is 70 per cent finished and will wrap up in January 2022. Not only will four levels of parking be available, but drivers will also get an option of having a covered parking spot.

In fact, the new parking structure will have 756 parking spots, including 24 accessible spaces, 10 electrical vehicle charging stations and two elevators

The office space on the fourth and fifth floors of CITE – the Centre for Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship – is complete and will be an important part of Seneca’s flexible working approach in the coming months.

This expansive, inspiring space is wired with the latest technology and includes collaboration and wellness spaces, many meeting rooms of various sizes, two kitchenettes, a lactation room, lockable storage and a boardroom.