New Waterfront Campus

Wellness by the Water

New George Brown College Waterfront Campus

Imagine coming to class every day in one of the city’s most architecturally striking spaces, with labs and classrooms overlooking the Toronto harbour. And envision a learning environment focused on interprofessional team-based education, the new standard for health-care graduates entering the work force.


	Click here to view a Live Webcam showing the current construction status

Over the next few years, George Brown College will be adding a third main campus, introducing an innovative health sciences education learning centre at a stunning new site with informal learning spaces, rooftop terraces, state-of-the-art labs and a strong connection to the water’s edge to the south and a beautiful new park to the East. Where better in the city to learn about health promotion?

George Brown is transcending educational and institutional boundaries to ensure that our graduates are collaborative-practice ready. Students from our broad range of health sciences programs will gain a wide scope of perspective that will be essential to their roles as future health-care professionals.

Lorie Shekter-Wolfson, Assistant Vice-President, Waterfront Development and Dean, Community Services and Health Sciences states that, “The new campus has been designed and will be purpose-built to support a more interprofessional education framework that will focus on patient-centred team-based care.”

George Brown prepares graduates to support the change to a more collaborative health-care system, where all health professions work effectively and efficiently with each other. Our graduates are able to apply their specific expertise and collaborate as a health team member to support patient achievement of expected health outcomes. George Brown has programs that support students throughout their health careers from entry to practice to postgraduate studies and professional development. The Centre for Health Sciences includes:

And because this will be a full service campus, students will be able to find services ranging from registration to their own student association office on site.

Construction of the first phase of the campus site is now well underway, so to stay up-to-date, keep visiting our Live Webcam for a continuous view of its progress.

Funding

Phase one of the project, the main Health Sciences building, will cost approximately $175 million to build. The Province of Ontario has invested $61.5 million and the Government of Canada, through its Knowledge Infrastructure Program, has contributed $30 million. Waterfront Toronto is also a partner in the development.

George Brown College is also actively seeking individual and corporate partners to assist with completion of the project as part of a new campaign which will be launching soon.

Serving the Sector

The new campus will enable George Brown to continue to deliver on its commitment to serving the sector by preparing the students to work in a changing collaborative-practice health-care environment. In addition to the evolving curriculum, the campus will house a number of state of the art living labs, including the Simulated Practice Centre, The Interprofessional Learning Clinic and the Health Promotion Hub, where students will be able to develop new models of care and participate in applied research that will enhance the field. The Centre will also continue its partnerships with other educational institutions, health care facilities and related associations such as the University of Toronto, St. Michael’s and the Canadian Diabetic Association.

Serving the Community

Adding George Brown College students to the new East Bayfront community will help create a vibrant neighbourhood all year round and provide economic stimulus to area businesses.

But our expansion to this new community builds on more than 40 years as a key contributor to the vitality of Toronto. Not only has the college played an important role developing new generations of highly valued, skilled employees across a wide range of industries, it has also served as a prominent voice on important issues impacting the city and provided opportunity for thousands who may never have had a chance to find gainful employment to earn the education they need to be successful.

As part of its educational commitment to excellence in practice and innovation, the new campus will carry forward the college’s commitment to offer a range of services to the public that have been previously offered out of our Casa Loma campus through theCentre's living labs such as the Interprofessional Learning Clinic.

The Interprofessional Learning Clinic offers George Brown students a clinical practice opportunity providing direct client services in a real, working environment. The clinic bring students from a variety of professional programs at George Brown together with students from other institutions to work alongside each other and alongside professionals conducting assessments and providing services to the public including:

Dental Clinic: dental history, assessment of teeth and gums, dental x-rays and teeth cleaning, fabrication of complete or partial dentures, repairs and relining, fillings, veneers, and bonding
Hearing Tests: hearing aid evaluation and recommendation, consultation for assistive listening devices and hearing conservation
Fitness Assessments: mobility, flexibility, heart rate, cardiovascular

The George Brown Waterfront Campus will also house our Health Promotion Hub which focuses on a number of outreach activities, health education and product development in collaboration with partners like the Canadian Diabetes Association. Like our Interprofessional Learning Clinic, the Health Promotion Hub is a placement for our students that will also benefit our clients and the community.

In establishing another new home in the East Bayfront neighbourhood, George Brown College is committed to serve as a community hub – not only providing education to our students, but services to our neighbours including publicly accessible food services and a campus bookstore.

Revised: May 17, 2011