This morning, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at the site of Sheridan College Hazel McCallion Campus (HMC) in Mississauga, marking the start of the campus' second phase expansion. The ceremony kicked off at 9:30 a.m. with opening remarks and speeches from Dr. Jeff Zabudsky, President and CEO of Sheridan College and Mayor Hazel McCallion, among others, followed by the groundbreaking itself just after 10 a.m.

As part of the ceremony, Sheridan unveiled the Pilon School of Business as the new name of Sheridan’s Faculty of Business. The name change is in recognition of a $2.5 million gift to Sheridan from Randy and Catherine Pilon, the largest personal donation to Sheridan in the college’s history. The gift kickstarts Sheridan's $9 million Get Creative fundraising campaign in support of the HMC expansion.

Randy Pilon is a 1982 graduate of Sheridan’s business program. In 1998, he founded Virox Technologies Inc., recognized today as a global leader in hydrogen peroxide-based infection control products. Pilon credits his time at Sheridan with starting him on the road to success in both the business world. 

Pilon remarked “I want students to realize what is possible. There are many entrepreneurs who were born on third base and think they hit a triple. I started from scratch and worked really hard to get to where I am today.  I hope my story will serve as an inspiration to future generations of Sheridan business students.”

Mississauga politicians joined Sheridan College officials at the ground breaking ceremony, image courtesy of Sheridan College

Seen in the photo above from left to right are benefactor Randy Pilon, The Hon. Reza Moridi, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, Amrit Mangat, MPP, Mayor Hazel McCallion, Dr. Jeff Zabudsky, Sheridan President and CEO, The Hon. Dipika Damerla, Associate Minister of Health and Longterm Care, Bryan Dawson, Chair, Sheridan Board of Governors.

The groundbreaking follows on the heels of a recent announcement by Sheridan College and Infrastructure Ontario that Sheridan Creative Partnership (SCP) won an open competition for the fixed-price contract to design, build and finance the expansion, at a price tag of $67.3 million. SCP's partners are Bondfield Construction Company Limited, Rocklynn Capital Inc., Moriyama + Teshima Architects and Montgomery Sisam Architects.

Rendering of Hazel McCallion Campus at Sheridan College, image courtesy of Sheridan College

The expansion will cover 220,000 square-feet, and has been designed to accommodate 3,200 new full time students, bringing the campus' capacity up to 5,500 students. The completed facility will include faculty and administrative offices, as well as 29 new studios, labs and production spaces. There will also be a 'creative campus complex' consisting of a central learning and meeting area known as 'Creativity Commons', and even a gallery space devoted to student-submitted creations.

Rendering of Hazel McCallion Campus at Sheridan College, image courtesy of Sheridan College

Along with its contribution to Sheridan's educational facilities, the project will also create construction jobs. At the peak of construction, an estimated 120 workers will be employed. The project, designed to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Silver certification, is slated for substantial completion by the Summer 2016, with an aim to ensure that construction is completed both on-time and on-budget. 

Additional information about and renderings of Sheridan College Hazel McCallion Campus can be found in our dataBase file, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the Campus' Projects & Construction thread, or leave a comment using the space provided at the bottom of this page.