University expansion to brighten community's future
Fri 26 May 2006
Nicole O'Halloran, Journalism
An exciting future lies ahead for the University of the Sunshine Coast, as plans to expand the facility will benefit the students, staff and the wider community without harming any wildlife.
Director of Capital Programs and Operations, Mark Bradley, said the university had created a development master plan and was currently undertaking expansions set to be completed by 2007.
“Two new buildings are in the process of being constructed and these will provide more teaching space and more space for important research,” Mr Bradley said.
Mr Bradley said the $12 million general purpose building adjacent to the library would be finished by the end of May 2006 and the $14 million science, health and education building was set to be completed by November 2006.
To be developed by 2007 was a $3.6 million business accelerator building near the innovation centre, along with a Greenlink/Bus Interchange from Scholars Way, new walking paths and a compensatory habitat near the lake.
He said a new sporting precinct would also be finished by March 2007 which included two football fields worth $500,000, a $6 million indoor sports stadium, two tennis courts worth $180,000, an indoor sports centre and an Olympic sized pool worth $3.2 million.
“The sporting precinct will give students the opportunity to be more active and the university will be able to hold larger graduations in this area,” Mr Bradley said.
Division Eight Maroochy Shire Councillor, Steve Dickson, said the 50 metre, 10 lane pool was Maroochy Shire Council’s highest priority for 2006-7.
“Chancellor Park was never planned well to start with and we did not have all the infrastructure we needed. A pool will not just benefit university students but also the entire community,” Cr Dickson said.
“We have school children swimming in the lake and it is ridiculous,” he said.
The Maroochy Shire Council has a Memorandum of Understanding with the university, Education Queensland and the local community for the pool to be used by the public.
Cr Dickson said Maroochy Shire Council would provide $1.5 million in funding to construct the pool and the State Government would provide $900,000.
Executive Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor, Judy Jakeman, said the expansion would be essential for creating jobs, increasing the variety of courses on offer and it would attract more students to the university.
“A previous aim of the university was to get to 20,000 students by the year 2020 but that figure slightly changes over time,” Ms Jakeman said.
“We currently have just over 6000 students and 700 staff,” she said.
New car parks worth $250,000 have already been constructed to compensate for the expected increase in students attending the university.
Although the university is undergoing a major expansion and available land is being used, the resident eastern grey kangaroos have not been forgotten.
“The kangaroos have been taken into consideration and a study was done on them in 2001 to find out where they spend their time. We are not building in these areas and we are just contacting the expert for another study at the moment,” Mr Bradley said.
Cr Steve Dickson said the kangaroos had always been considered during construction.
“They have always been thought about. When Claymore road was being built a kangaroo underpass was constructed at a huge expense,” Cr Dickson said.
The expansion and new infrastructure would cater for the growth of the area without harming the wildlife, he said.
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Submitted Comments
Ive seen less and less kangaroos on campus since the new buildings have gone up and some of the new buildings are where the kangaroos used to hang out. Mr Bradley needs to talk to his expert again.
Goodbye kangaroos...