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The north side of the new George Brown College waterfront campus, viewed here on August 22 2012 from Queen’s Quay Boulevard …

… and seen here, this morning, from the Keating channel near Cherry Street in the Toronto port lands area several hundred meters to the east

The building can be seen in this city skyline photo shot from the Keating Channel

School’s in: Health sciences students at George Brown College will have the good fortune of starting a new school term tomorrow in a brand-new building.

More than 3,000 students, instructors, administrators and other staff will bring the College’s state-of-the-art waterfront campus to life on September 4 — and provide some energetic company to the Corus Quay broadcasting and office complex right next door.

Campus construction started in late 2009 and, at this time two years ago, the building foundation was only just beginning to take shape inside the huge excavation on the city’s East Bayfront. I thought the projected occupancy date of September 2012 was a bit optimistic, but construction proceeded smoothly and on schedule. When I passed by the campus just under two weeks ago, crews were busy working on landscaping and other exterior finishing touches, while students (and their parents) were going inside to register and take a look around.

Designed as a joint venture by Stantec Architecture and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, the building has eight floors including a three-storey glass podium and a rooftop terrace. Besides classrooms and office facilities for the health care faculties, the full-service campus houses a health care clinic, bookstore, administrative offices and food service operations.

In a video in the August 23 2012 online edition of the Toronto Star, architecture columnist Christopher Hume visits the new building and comments on its significance both for the college, and for the city and in particular its eastern waterfront, which will undergo massive redevelopment over the next decade.

I previously published photos and reported on the George Brown College waterfront campus in posts on January 4 2011, February 5 2011, and April 23 2011.

Rendering of the new George Brown College waterfront campus

Lakeside learning: George Brown College is giving the new Corus Quay office building some company on the waterfront.

Corus Quay, headquarters to the Corus Entertainment media company, opened last fall at 25 Dockside Drive near the foot of Jarvis Street — right beside the similarly brand-new urban park, Canada’s Sugar Beach. Along with the beach and nearby Sherbourne Common, which also opened last autumn, Corus Quay was the first project finished under Waterfront Toronto’s massive East Bayfront revitalization program. Since they moved into their new digs, the 1,100 Corus Quay employees have had the Muskoka chairs and custom park benches at Sugar Beach and Sherbourne Common mainly to themselves during weekdays. But that will soon change.

The second major Waterfront Toronto project is the George Brown College Health Sciences Centre campus, currently under construction between Corus Quay and Sherbourne Common. Scheduled to open for the 2012 fall semester, the 330,000-square-foot building will accommodate 3,500 students in the the schools of Dental Health, Health and Wellness, Nursing and Health Services Management.

Designed as a joint venture by Stantec Architecture and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, the building will have eight floors including a three-storey glass podium and a rooftop terrace. Besides classrooms and office facilities for the health care faculties, the full-service campus will house a health care clinic, bookstore, administrative offices and food service operations. The project cost is $175 million, of which $61.5 million is being paid by the Ontario government, and $30 million by the federal government.

That’s just phase one of the campus development; the facility will grow further in its second phase, for which the College is still seeking to raise funds from individual and corporate “partners.” And in several years’ time, the College plans to add a third campus in the vicinity. Once all the college faculty and students start joining the Corus employees on the waterfront in 2012, the East Bayfront lakeside promenade and boardwalk should be buzzing with activity all year long.

Those lucky kids won’t even have to cut classes to hit the beach — they’ll be able to catch some rays or walk along the lake during lunch breaks or between labs and lectures. Below is a college webcam photo of construction progress at the campus site, along with some of my photos of building activity between last August and this past Thursday.