For the first time in more than a decade, TRU has revamped its Campus Master Plan. Walking paths, east village housing, green spaces and a “campus heart corridor” are some of the first items on the university’s agenda following the release of its updated seven-phase plan.
In collaboration with Stantec, an engineering firm, the university hosted a virtual town hall on Feb. 12 to present its new plan and hear feedback from the TRU community.
“We do have a nice campus. We did quite a lot of work since the last Campus Master Plan was done in 2013,” TRU VP of Administration and Finance Matt Milovick said during the presentation.
Milovick said this new plan is similar to the former version, but takes into account property acquisitions and changes that have occurred in the past 12 years.
The first of seven phases of this master plan prioritizes creating a strong campus heart corridor. One of the recommendations Stantec brought forward to achieve this goal was the removal and relocation of parking lots near the Brown Family House of Learning and Old Main to the campus perimeter, a change that would allow for more green space.
Changes to parking, however, were not the only improvements to have a renewed focus in the master plan. Previously announced projects, such as connecting the east village to the university via an overhead pedestrian walkway and a walkable trail from the Summit Drive intersection to the campus heart, were also announced as priorities.
“The plan itself envisions a campus heart that has a unique mixed-use, walkable-type environment at the centre of the campus,” Stantec practice leader Brian Christianson said.
The Low Carbon District Energy System and Indigenous Education buildings are expected to be built during this phase.
“The following phases of the campus plan look to slowly and incrementally fill in aspects of the overall plan,” Christianson said.
Christianson said it will likely take decades for the rest of these phases to be completed, and Stantec will provide guidelines for TRU going forward.
“We can’t allocate a timeframe to any of these developments, and we do need to allow for some flexibility because of the variability in government funding in the marketplace and forces in the community around the development side of things,” he said.
With each phase, the university plans to incorporate parking into each building while improving walkability and green space.
Phase two will see additional academic buildings built near Old Main, the bus exchange relocated to Eastgate and more research buildings.
The third phase will look at adding new athletic facilities near the TCC, new academic buildings, and market housing at Westgate. In contrast, phase four focuses on developing a “self-sustaining community” of market housing created north of campus.
Phase five will see the market housing created along McGill Road in the current location of the McGill residences.
The sixth phase will see low-density housing north of campus across on the downhill slopes from North Tower.
“This is a lower density, kind of townhouse quality development that would occur in those slopes over time,” Christianson explained.
“The final phase would see a build-out of the northwestern parking lots for mid-rise apartment-style housing that would be self-sufficient in terms of parking.”
According to the presentation, the plan was developed with stakeholder engagement in mind. Stantec met with the TRU Community Trust, executive leaders and facilities members. They also sent out a survey to students and staff in 2024
Priorities identified from the engagement were varied but included integrating research, balancing private market development with academic expansion, densifying the campus without losing open space and addressing the parking lot concerns at TRU.
Stantec and Christianson were involved in TRU’s 2003 and 2013 masterplans as well.