New building is the CATT's meow

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On May 13, Fanshawe College proudly unveiled the newly completed Centre for Applied Transportation Technologies, an innovative new facility located at 1764 Oxford St. E., not far from the main London campus.

The CATT is a state-of-the-art building equipped with a remarkable list of features for 1,500 students in the newly renamed School of Transportation Technology. Construction of the structure was funded by two government grants totaling $31.8 million. Classes began in April 2011.

"In April, we finished off programs that we started at the main campus down the road," said Rob Gorrie, Chair of the School of Transportation Technology. "Our students left the old facility and started classes here to finish off their term on April 4. It was a massive move to pull off, but when the students walked in, it was a pretty big wow factor for them."

The grand opening on May 13 brought to a close this latest chapter in the history of the college, one that began with a ceremonial groundbreaking back in November 2009. Now completed, the building will provide opportunities for students to receive credentials in trades and technologies relevant to the transportation industry, like the new Avionics Technician program, in addition to the family of courses currently offered.

"Fanshawe is well regarded and sought after for training of all sorts, certainly transportation training," said Leanne Perreault, Manager of Corporate Communications with the college. "This facility takes us to a whole new level. This is a state-of-the-art building; it's got all sorts of environmental measures that are amazing and the classrooms, equipment and everything else are top-notch. It puts us right at the top of the chart."

The CATT - a 148,000 square foot facility with 16 classrooms, 13 labs, seven shops and support spaces like cafeterias and student lounges - is also Fanshawe's greenest property to date.

In addition to an impressive list of sustainable measures undertaken to ensure the new building leaves as little a footprint on the environment as possible, the building boasts 48,000 square feet of vegetated green roofing and solar-powered GPS tracking skylights to promote natural light in its shops.

The new building - premier in Canada, said Gorrie - enjoyed an opening weekend with over a thousand visitors from May 12 to 14. Regular classes continue through the summer, and a projected 500 to 600 students will resume full-time study in the fall.