CREDIT: PROVIDED BY FANSHAWE'S CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS
The new Fanshawe campus at the Kingsmill property is near to opening and will finally allow students to see what's in it this coming fall.

Fanshawe College will soon be opening the doors to its new campus building downtown on Dundas Street.

Located right across the road from the older Howard W. Rundle building, better known as the Centre for Digital and Performing Arts, students will be right in the heart of the city to enjoy what it has to offer.

According to Shawn Harrington, Fanshawe's director of campus planning and capital development, the College acquired the Kingsmill property in November 2014, when the previous owners decided to sell the historical mall.

Since acquiring the building, Fanshawe has worked for approximately three years to complete the reconstruction of what was once a mall into a brand new campus.

Harrington, has been involved in the project of a new campus since the beginning and said he is happy about the completion of the building.

“It's truly exciting to see this thing finally come to a reality and ready to open,” Harrington said.

When asked on why the school chose to buy the Kingsmill property Harrington had positives to share.

“We settled on the Kingsmill property because of the size of the facility and the property was large enough to accommodate the new campus in one location. It was directly across the street from the first building downtown, the Howard W. Rundle building, so proximity for the final campus was ideal as well,” Harrington said.

According to Harrington, the six floor building, plus one basement, will feature various types of facilities and features, which were not as easily accessible to students in the downtown campus before. This includes facilities such as:

Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) office

Counselling and Accessibility Services

Testing Centre

Homework Lab

Study and lounge spaces

Campus Store

Three terraces

Three savory kitchens

There will also be several classrooms, including laptop oriented and computer labs, a mixology lab and one lecture hall that will feature a demonstration kitchen for cooking classes.

According to Harrington, a living wall, which is a wall entirely covered with plants and green roof, were designed into the construction of the building, to help filter clean air and regulate temperatures in the building.

Like the previous Kingsmill mall, Harrington said that the first floor will feature a walkway to allow the public to freely travel between Carling Street and Dundas Street. This will allow the public to more freely access the student run restaurant and deli, previously in the main campus as Saffron's and Olive Oyle's, to enjoy the food students prepare under the name of the Chef's Table and Chef's Table Deli. The restaurant will also feature a patio area that will be open in warmer weather.

Harrington said that the new facility will give the students the opportunity to be in a spot where some of their industry and future employers are located.

“You know right down in the heart of downtown, where there's the IT businesses, [it will be] much the same as what they experienced at the Howard W. Rundle building and the digital programs and digital employers which are downtown. Now you're down there with the tourism, hospitality and culinary programs and businesses,” Harrington said.

This once rustic place would seem completely transformed by all the new facilities being added, but Harrington stated that the school preserved historical parts of the building to incorporate them as several features that contain the building's lineage. The original façade, the manned elevator turned dressing room and a working pneumatic tube system for delivering messages, are just few of the historic features preserved in the building.

According to Harrington, the Kingsmill property will be open to students for the campus on Aug. 27, while the grand opening is set for Sept.14.

On Sept. 15, the new campus will be participating in the Doors Open London program and the public is asked to come take a tour of Fanshawe's new facilities at the campus.