Today, St. Clair College announces that the general contractor for the Health Sciences Building will be Windsor’s Oscar Construction.

In the over 30 years Oscar Construction has been in business in Windsor and Essex County, it will be the first time this company will be performing work for St. Clair College.

There were 9 local and out of town general contractor firms competing to be general contractor of this project.

The new $32 million Health Sciences Building will be located at main campus of St. Clair College.

In late summer of 2009, St. Clair College announced that the local design firm of Architecttura Inc. was selected to design the $32 million Health Sciences building for the College. They will be working with Oscar Construction to complete the project.

“St. Clair College is pleased to have another qualified contractor from our community to be part of the recent Federal and Provincial Government investments in our college. We believe that Oscar Construction has the experience and capability to deliver to us, both on time and on budget, one of the largest projects that this college has ever undertaken.” - Dr. John Strasser, President, St. Clair College

“Our student body is excited to see our new Health Sciences Building move to the next stage of the process. We know that this new building will allow our students to learn in a “state of the art” environment that bring the level of learning to a new standard.” -
Justin Fox, SRC Student President

Oscar Construction
Oscar Construction is a dynamic general contracting firm serving the people of Essex County since 1977. It has successfully completed a wide variety of projects in industrial, commercial, institutional, high rise residential, recreational and medical fields. The company has delivered more schools than any other contractors in this area to several school boards. Their latest accomplishment is the new Medical Education Building for the University of Windsor.

The company has wide ranging expertise in construction of medical facilities, having been involved in retrofitting and carrying out new construction in both Hotel-Dieu Hospital and Metropolitan Hospital. In addition the company has successfully completed dental offices and medical complexes. It is the only general contractor in this area that holds ISO 9001:2000 certification and it has a full time LEED certified professional on staff.

Health Science Building Funding History
In May of 2009, $32 million was announced as part of the Federal and Provincial Knowledge Infrastructure Program (KIP) investment for a St. Clair College Health Sciences Building.

In total, the governments of Canada and Ontario are investing $1.5 billion in 49 projects at Ontario’s colleges and universities, through the Knowledge Infrastructure Program (KIP) and the Ontario 2009 Budget.

The Knowledge Infrastructure Program, a two-year, $2 billion economic stimulus measure to support infrastructure enhancement at Canadian post-secondary institutions is part of the $12 billion in new infrastructure investment allocated under Canada’s Economic Action Plan. The program is providing real economic stimulus and employment by creating local jobs for engineers, architects, trades people and technicians. It is also helping to generate the advanced technological infrastructure needed to keep Canada’s research and educational facilities at the forefront of scientific advancement.

The Government of Ontario, in its 2009 budget – Confronting the Challenge: Building Ontario’s Economic Future, committed to investing in infrastructure and has designated $780 million to colleges and universities to modernize facilities and boost long-term research and skills training capacity over the next two years.

For more information about the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, including program criteria, application instructions and a list of the approved projects to date, please visit www.ic.gc.ca/knowledge-infrastructure.

For information about how the Government of Ontario is helping to build and revitalize infrastructure across the province, please visit www.mei.gov.on.ca/en/infrastructure.