After years of hard work, the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS) and the Faculty of Applied Sciences officially opened the new Cheeze on Thursday.
The Engineering Student Centre (ESC) totals 10,000 square feet — four to five times bigger than the old Cheeze according to Scott Pidzarko, EUS VP Administration. Pidzarko also noted that this is the first time in years that EUS executives will have offices.
“We used to have our offices in the attic of the old Cheeze. It wasn't really accessible for students, but now students would be able to come by and chat with us,” said Pidzarko.
Some of the special architectural features include wooden beams and trusses which were made of recycled materials from the old Cheeze — the building has an LEED gold certification for sustainability.
Overall, it took eight years to develop and build the ESC. A referendum on constructing the new building was passed in 2007. Architectural firms were consulted from 2008 to 2009 and in 2014 construction of the new building began.
“It's kind of cool. We finally get to see this eight year project [pay off] ... we can't wait to see as many students as possible [take] advantage of this building,” said Alan Ehrenholz, the president of EUS.
Unlike the old Cheeze, the ESC will not be mostly controlled by students. After lengthy negations with the Board of Governors, "Our governance agreed that it's going to be 50 per cent controlled by the faculty and 50 per cent by the EUS and students," said Ehrenholz.
“In the past, buildings had been built for student societies that were run or governed by their faculties and we did not really want the Faculty of Applied Science to be controlling our student space,” said Pidzarko.
The final budget was estimated close to $5.2 million. However, it slightly exceeded the initial budgets of $4.9 to $5 million due to some delay during construction. The main costs were covered almost 50-50 by either students and sponsorship or donation.
Both Ehrenholz and Pidzarko agreed that the ESC space does a good job of representing engineering student life.
“I think the big part of engineering is work hard and play hard. This space offers the opportunity for students to study in quiet and safe environment as well as be social and have fun,” said Pidzarko.