U of R's College Avenue renewal fixing accessibility problems

Accessibility was perhaps the most important upgrade and feature for the University of Regina's College Avenue campus renewal project, according to Vice-President Dave Button.

The campus access prior to the renewal project was "terrible," Button said.

"Accessibility is so critical because we could not provide service to all the different learners and students that we wanted to," he added on Tuesday.

Any contracts the university had with federal government agencies and others also required that the campus be 100 per centaccessiblefor any student.

"So, we actually were organizing the teaching through this campus but actually holding the teaching in hotels."

It was particularly difficult to access facilities on the campus for people who were in wheelchairs, he said.

"Even to go into the bathroom it was a beautiful marble bathroom, but it was a foot step up and things to get into the bathroom and then another step up if you got into the bathroom to be able to get into the toilet area."

The campus renewal project involved demolishing portions of the campus and building entirely new structures with a similar esthetic, using salvaged bricks from the demolished areas.

The College Avenue campus is used for students of the Johnson Shoyama School of Public Policy,Centre for Continuing Education and the Conservatory of Performing Arts.

About 8,000 students use the campus every year.