Red Deer College’s Shaping Our Future campaign got a $100,000 boost on Friday.
Real estate management company BGIS is providing the money to go towards the Gary W. Harris Canada Winter Games Centre.
In recognition, a teaching lab will be named the BGIS Sustainability Interpretive Room, which will feature a number of cutting-edge technologies on the sustainability and alternative energy fronts.
Related:
https://www.reddeeradvocate.com/news/red-deer-colleges-88-million-canada-games-centre-on-schedule/
https://www.reddeeradvocate.com/news/construction-starts-on-new-solar-powered-rdc-residence-and-athletes-village/
The lab located in the Winter Games Centre will be heated or cooled depending on need by a geothermal loop that has been installed beneath the centre to demonstrate the technology and provide geothermal energy learning opportunities for students.
Positions at BGIS such as facility managers, building engineers, technical operators and project managers are all connected with emerging technologies and new innovations, said BGIS Canada president Mike Greidanus.
Greidanus said the company has a 30-year relationship with the college. BGIS has provided on-site employees and ongoing facility support and services. Through Brookfield Properties, the company has also sponsored other college initiatives.
College president Joel Ward said the Winter Games Centre will feature many new technologies including translucent solar panels and LED lighting powered from new kinds of cables that are many technological leaps beyond standard electrical wiring.
Ward said the new technologies give students opportunities to learn about the latest innovations. It also allows the college to showcase itself to businesses or individuals thinking of upgrading to the latest technologies.
“If you’re thinking about doing some conversions of your own business or your own space (people may ask) hat would that look like? What would that cost? What technologies should be used?
“We’ll be able to help small and medium-sized enterprises do that.”
Ward said these sorts of initiatives are all about planning for the future.
“As we move to an alternative energy economy we believe Red Deer College needs to be on the leading edge of that in Central Alberta.
“So with partners like BGIS, and the doors they have opened for us with other companies, I think it will go a long way to getting the right technology here and more donations, quite frankly for some of this technology.
“It can be kind of expensive for a small college.”
pcowley@reddeeradvocate.com
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