July 31, 2003 For Immediate Release

Tenders Now Open

While construction continues on the Northern Health Sciences Centre (the building that will house the Northern Medical Program), UNBC is now accepting bids for another construction project that will begin this summer on the Prince George campus.

The 2,366 square metre (25,500 square foot) laboratory addition will be built onto the north end of the new teaching lab that opened in September, 2002. The extension will include classrooms and computer labs to accommodate student enrolments, as well as for new student spaces in Computer Science. It's expected that the building will be ready in the summer, 2004.

The lab extension, funded by the Government of British Columbia, will provide additional space for students, while helping to address a space shortfall at the University. Even with the new Lab and the Bentley Centre (both of which opened last year) and the Northern Health Sciences Centre (now under construction), UNBC still has a space shortfall of 33% for a university with its enrolment and level of research/teaching activity.

The tender for site preparation closes on August 6th. A second tender, for actual construction of the lab extension, will close later in August. Construction is expected to begin in September.

A third new building proposed for construction this year, the Research and Development Park, is a partnership between UNBC and the Axor Group. A construction start date has not yet been identified.