KSA Renovations Aim to Increase Comfort for Students

All four campuses will receive major changes to the student association’s offices

When you walk down the hallway in Cedar, past the Kwantlen Student Association office, you might notice that something looks a little different. The windows, previously clear and perfectly see-through, are now striped.

This is just one of the several renovations planned for the KSA offices across all four campuses.

It all started with a list of possible projects back in 2012. The KSA compiled many different ideas on what they believed Kwantlen needed, and how they were going to satisfy those needs. The list has changed over the years, with some items being added, and others being removed, but what is clear by looking at the 2015 council meeting agenda is that among several of the high priority projects on the list, the KSA office renovations are at the top.

KSA General Manager Jeremy McElroy made it clear that the renovations are made with the students in mind. In all but the Surrey campus, the KSA spaces are more than just where KSA members work.

“The key to all of our spaces, with the exception of the Surrey office, is that they are first and foremost student lounges. The vast majority of the square footage in each of the spaces is meant for students—informal learning space, hanging out, eating your lunch, meeting friends, and that was something that was really lacking in our Langley space.”

Spread across four campuses, it’s important that students have equal access to KSA facilities that are both welcoming and functional. Equal distribution of resources is something that the KSA has made a priority. Unfortunately, this hasn’t always been the case.

“Langley is a perfect example of a space that just wasn’t given enough love,” says McElroy, “and Richmond was not the most pleasant place to hang out in.”

The renovation projects aim to equalize the quality between all campuses. And with the amount of student use the KSA spaces get, they argue it was important to put these projects as high priorities.

Of course, the KSA spaces are not the only high priority projects being currently worked on. The Grassroots has also been identified as needing additional work. Plans include replacing the existing beverage fridge, installing new counters and shelving, and coating the entire lounge area in a new layer of paint. In the Richmond campus, the idea of adding city bus shelters at Lansdowne Road and Garden City road is also being explored.

Since the creation of the project list, several projects have been removed completely. Some of these removed projects include even more major renovations to the Grassroots, basketball hoop and exterior recreation upgrades, and blue light emergency telephone system. Each of these projects was taken off for a slightly different reason.

“As time went on, and we started to get some estimates of cost and realizing we were getting closer and closer to getting a new student union building, making a large investment just didn’t make sense,” says McElroy. “The exterior basketball hoops, that came off the list . . . with the reshuffle that’s happening with athletics and recreation, the university has taken on those projects themselves.”

For some of the projects that are currently in motion, the finish line is in sight. In both Richmond and Langley, the renovations are scheduled to be 100 per cent finished near the end of October or beginning of November. As for the others, only time will tell.

“Every time we think we’ve got a deadline it seems to get pushed a little bit,” says McElroy.

Despite any glitches, the renovations are moving forward. When finished, they will provide a welcoming comfort to anyone using them during their studies throughout the year.