Today Queen’s University confirmed delays in completing the John Deutsch University Centre (JDUC) Revitalization.

Expanding on its July 23 announcement, the university has confirmed the 90-room JDUC Residence renovation, which is an important component of the revitalization project, will open as planned on Aug. 23, and all students will be able to move in as scheduled. The balance of the project has incurred significant schedule slippage and won’t be ready for occupancy until the end of November.

The project team placed a priority focus on the renovated residence to ensure it opened to house students as planned. Achieving this required the resequencing of other work and redirecting project resources away from the main building, which also faced challenges.  

The largest contributors to the delay were the number of changes required due to unforeseen site conditions in the older building. While some changes were anticipated due to the nature of the project and the JDUC’s heritage challenges, other changes, including a sewer infrastructure issue and an issue with the building’s main elevator shaft, were unforeseen and addressing these impacted the contractors’ ability to efficiently sequence work and allocate labour resources. Despite best efforts the contractors were unable to recover the slippage.  

After a review of the facts at hand, the decision was made not to attempt staged occupancy for the rest of the building, opting instead to establish Nov. 29 as an overall building completion date. Clubs and organizations will continue to operate from their current temporary locations on campus until the spaces in the JDUC are complete and approved for occupancy. 

The JDUC serves as a hub for student life at Queen’s, and includes the offices of the Alma Mater Society, the Society of Graduate and Professional Students, the Office of the Rector, the Student Experience Office (SEO), as well as numerous student clubs, new student wellbeing space, a pub, and a media centre.