Update on Barton re-opening timelines
Message from Fabrice Labeau, Co-Acting Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic), Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) and planning chief for the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) on behalf of the EOC
Dear members of the Macdonald Campus community,
As Reading Week draws to a close, I am pleased to provide some updates for you on the building closures.
Macdonald-Stewart re-opening on track
On February 28, I wrote to let you know that the earliest timeline for re-opening the Macdonald-Stewart building (Phase 1) was the week of March 13th. Before re-opening, the building is being cleaned under asbestos protocols by a specialty firm.
I am very happy to say that the firm is making good progress and are expected to complete this specialty cleaning by March 10, which means we are on track to re-open in the week of March 13th. Air testing is following to ensure cleaning has been successful.
Barton re-opening with MS
We have confirmed that the Barton building will re-open at the same time as Phase 1 of the Macdonald-Stewart building. (Phase 1 of the MS re-opening involves all public spaces, including those where dust samples tested positive, and the closed spaces, such as offices and laboratories, that tested negative.)
Updated floor plans and results
Floor plans for the MS and Barton buildings, which show locations of the positive and negative dust samples, were posted on February 22. Those floor plans showed some “white” spaces, that is, spaces coded neither red (positive tests) or green (negative tests). At the time of the original round of testing, these spaces were inaccessible. We worked with the Faculty to gain access to complete our testing in a second round.
The floor plans have now been updated to show results for nearly all of the “white” spaces not originally tested (accessible to anyone at McGill with a quick log-in). The results of these additional Round 2 tests are as follows:
- Macdonald-Stewart building: 1 positive test (in a storage closet) out of 28 tests conducted. We are still working on gaining access to four spaces.
- Barton building: 1 positive test (in a mechanical room) out of 2 tests conducted. An elevator room remains to be tested.
Email distribution list issue resolved
A few professors had flagged that some students in their classes, who were registered in faculties other than the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, were not receiving updates through the Macdonald Campus email distribution lists. We worked to create a new, more inclusive email distribution list, but discovered a few days ago that it did not include graduate students who were not taking classes. The email distribution list has been corrected and checked against registrations. We apologize to those who missed messages. You can find all messages on this page. Our FAQ has also been updated.
Please continue to send your questions or comments to macbldg.closures [at] mcgill.ca.
I know these closures have added unwanted stress to lives of many in the Mac community. Whether or not you were able to take some holidays this week, I hope that you could find some moments to relax, get outside and enjoy the final days of winter, or enjoy some social time with friends and family.
Fabrice