ville-marie OCPM : Ancien Hôpital Royal Victoria et de l’Institut Allan Memorial

[SameGuy]

28 minutes ago, mk.ndrsn said:

What's the issue with the funicular option? The impact on the landscape and wildlife?

Seems so. From any “downtown” point it’d cut across the Olmsted trail area; I’m not sure one can be rebuilt along the path from the Sir George E Cartier Monument since the Camilien-Houde Expressway was built.

[IluvMTL]

Consultation en ce moment

https://ocpm.qc.ca/fr/royal-victoria?fbclid=IwAR1RFHpesvgIlOwSHODzp8HqTKBxAkGhnZkCE9NjxiqsoTHVD5h7KqVqRZQ

[LindbergMTL]

Présentation du nouveau projet de l’université McGill

Absolument magnifique!

[denpanosekai]

Absolute bullshit. Get ready for a lot of THIS

 

10 YEARS OF SITE IMPROVEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Welcome to McGill, here's your survival kit

 

[Rocco]

True. McGill should be ashamed of the way they treat their own real estate heritage. Neverending renos, leaks everywhere, abundance of temporary solutions, crumbling buildings.... Lets put it in an obvious way: They do not care. Having McGill taking over part of the Vic is sending shivers down my spine. Be ready for a project that will be years in the making, with no end in sight. Terrible, terrible decision.

[Internist]

Le 2021-09-08 à 22:28, Rocco a dit :

True. McGill should be ashamed of the way they treat their own real estate heritage. Neverending renos, leaks everywhere, abundance of temporary solutions, crumbling buildings.... Lets put it in an obvious way: They do not care. Having McGill taking over part of the Vic is sending shivers down my spine. Be ready for a project that will be years in the making, with no end in sight. Terrible, terrible decision.

What’s your alternative proposal? 

McGill has been restoring multiple patrimonial buildings in the last decade or so. They have the oldest campus in the province and consequently they are faced with a massive maintenance deficit. We can criticize the management of old when the sensitivity to heritage was lesser, and maintenance was all but a priority, but looking at the millions being poured into renovations all around campus, you can hardly pretend they do not care at all… Most buildings around Lower Field and McTavish have seen major upgrades, and they even started working on some buildings along University and Doctor Penfield. The Strathcona building highlighted by @denpanosekai above was estimated to have a maintenance deficit of over 100 million dollars a few years ago. They did some “emergency” repairs and “security” work over the last decade, but they are waiting to have the money to undertake the massive restorations needed. Same goes for many other buildings, including the less sexy and more “modern” ones (looking at you, Stewart Biology) that like most things built after 1950 suffer not only from poor aesthetics, but also dismal durability.

Like any institution, they have a limited capacity to finance and realize restoration projects at any given time. They have to balance their budget, which encompasses much more than just renovating buildings (you know, secondary things like teaching and research…). They rely on whatever amount of cash-flow is available for improvement projects, otherwise they basically have to beg the government to help finance them. The government is only willing to subsidize them by a limited (read insufficient) amount, especially when there is no new pavilions to inaugurate, and therefore no sexy ribbon to cut… Try to convince a government to subsidize millions to upgrade HVAC systems… (yes, I know, much less sexy than revamping masonry, but important nonetheless…).

The New Vic project has the distinct advantage of bringing brand new massive public funding into play, justified by the space deficit and projected growth, as well as finding a new use for a big chunk of the massive patrimonial site the government has to “dispose of”. The conjuncture is such that hundreds of millions will become available, which would otherwise not have been dedicated to McGill’s improvement projects anyway. McGill is seen as a rich university, but their maintenance deficit is over three times that of UdeM, the second worst on the list. Their foundation might be rich, but its funds are not readily available to the executives to simply use as they please. 

Under the circumstances, I consider McGill has been doing decently well in restoring the downtown campus, and even though there is a lot more work remaining to be done, I see continued improvements over the last 10 years, when I first set foot there. In fact, McGill has been more of a driving force in preserving heritage sites than the vast majority of public or private institutions I can think of…

How much of the historical Golden Square Mile would still be standing without McGill? How many rich private developers have destroyed historical buildings with empty promises of reusing the original masonry… only to find out the masonry is nowhere to be found years later… At least McGill has shown a real sensitivity for its historical real-estate, and the restoration work they did manage to complete so far is very well-executed (I know, you could probably find a cropped-out photo of some random corner with visible flaws…). 

So if the New Vic project is a terrible decision, what could be a better decision in your opinion? (I am genuinely interested in your answer)

[LindbergMTL]

Il y a 3 heures, Internist a dit :

What’s your alternative proposal? 

McGill has been restoring multiple patrimonial buildings in the last decade or so. They have the oldest campus in the province and consequently they are faced with a massive maintenance deficit. We can criticize the management of old when the sensitivity to heritage was lesser, and maintenance was all but a priority, but looking at the millions being poured into renovations all around campus, you can hardly pretend they do not care at all… Most buildings around Lower Field and McTavish have seen major upgrades, and they even started working on some buildings along University and Doctor Penfield. The Strathcona building highlighted by @denpanosekai above was estimated to have a maintenance deficit of over 100 million dollars a few years ago. They did some “emergency” repairs and “security” work over the last decade, but they are waiting to have the money to undertake the massive restorations needed. Same goes for many other buildings, including the less sexy and more “modern” ones (looking at you, Stewart Biology) that like most things built after 1950 suffer not only from poor aesthetics, but also dismal durability.

Like any institution, they have a limited capacity to finance and realize restoration projects at any given time. They have to balance their budget, which encompasses much more than just renovating buildings (you know, secondary things like teaching and research…). They rely on whatever amount of cash-flow is available for improvement projects, otherwise they basically have to beg the government to help finance them. The government is only willing to subsidize them by a limited (read insufficient) amount, especially when there is no new pavilions to inaugurate, and therefore no sexy ribbon to cut… Try to convince a government to subsidize millions to upgrade HVAC systems… (yes, I know, much less sexy than revamping masonry, but important nonetheless…).

The New Vic project has the distinct advantage of bringing brand new massive public funding into play, justified by the space deficit and projected growth, as well as finding a new use for a big chunk of the massive patrimonial site the government has to “dispose of”. The conjuncture is such that hundreds of millions will become available, which would otherwise not have been dedicated to McGill’s improvement projects anyway. McGill is seen as a rich university, but their maintenance deficit is over three times that of UdeM, the second worst on the list. Their foundation might be rich, but its funds are not readily available to the executives to simply use as they please. 

Under the circumstances, I consider McGill has been doing decently well in restoring the downtown campus, and even though there is a lot more work remaining to be done, I see continued improvements over the last 10 years, when I first set foot there. In fact, McGill has been more of a driving force in preserving heritage sites than the vast majority of public or private institutions I can think of…

How much of the historical Golden Square Mile would still be standing without McGill? How many rich private developers have destroyed historical buildings with empty promises of reusing the original masonry… only to find out the masonry is nowhere to be found years later… At least McGill has shown a real sensitivity for its historical real-estate, and the restoration work they did manage to complete so far is very well-executed (I know, you could probably find a cropped-out photo of some random corner with visible flaws…). 

So if the New Vic project is a terrible decision, what could be a better decision in your opinion? (I am genuinely interested in your answer)

Merci Internist d'avoir pris le temps de faire valoir tes points.  👍👍👍

[Normand Hamel]

[Rocco]

A few Mcgill buildings falling apart... Temporary solutions are always permanent with McGill. The stiches on the Music pavillion were NOT there when built. A few tiles have fallen down. Just like the UdeS pavillion at Longueuil.

[Rocco]

Un autre édiifice broché!! La résidence de McGill. Ça devient une tendance lourde!