Archived News Releases

News Release - Canada and Manitoba

August 24, 2010

Red River College Starts Construction of New Energy Centre



Winnipeg, MB – Red River College will graduate even more skilled workers to meet the demands of Manitoba industry thanks to an expansion of its trades training facilities that broke ground today.
 
The Honourable Greg Selinger, Premier of Manitoba, Mrs. Shelly Glover, Member of Parliament for St. Boniface, and RRC's Interim President Catherine Rushton were on hand to launch construction of a new home for the College's power engineering program.
 
The 6,545 square foot, two-storey extension to Building J at the Notre Dame Campus will provide enlarged lab and shop space for the power engineering program along with new classroom and office areas.
 
“Red River College is rapidly becoming a centre of excellence for many fields of study; the construction of this addition to Building J will provide first class programming to power engineering students,” said Premier Selinger. “This project is one of many exciting campus infrastructure initiatives on which we have partnered with the Federal Government under the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, and we are very proud of this partnership.”
 
The program’s existing three boilers and steam turbine are being relocated as part of the project. They will be tied into the campus’s existing high pressure steam system, allowing the heat and steam generated by class instruction to be used by the College. The facility is being constructed to a LEED Silver standard, and it will serve as a laboratory for research in energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.
 
“Our government is investing in research and training facilities at campuses across the country to create jobs, help our economy recover quickly and improve the quality of life for Canadians,” said MP Glover. “This investment is promoting local employment now and will provide the research infrastructure Red River College needs for years to come.”
 
“Our power engineering program has doubled in size in recent years, so I know that students and instructors will appreciate and benefit from the opportunity to train in a larger, more modern energy centre,” said Catherine Rushton. “As well, the existing lab and classrooms will be repurposed to allow for expansion of other trades programs at the College.”
 
This is part of a group of major projects being funded by the Government of Canada and Government of Manitoba through the Knowledge Infrastructure Program that will help expand student capacity at Red River College. Already underway are new greenhouses and a landscape construction shop at the Notre Dame Campus, and the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute at the Exchange District Campus.
 
The new power engineering facility will be completed in 2011.
 
Red River College of Applied Arts, Science & Technology is Manitoba’s second largest post-secondary institution with more than 32,000 full-time, part-time, and apprenticeship enrolments.
 
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