The plans for Western University’s downtown hub came into sharper focus Tuesday, with the school announcing 13 “experiential learning” programs will be housed at 450 Talbot St. when it opens next year.
Western president Alan Shepard said the focus will be on providing services that benefit downtown while allowing students to get practical experience at the same time.
“I would say that the main overarching theme of the 13 projects is service to the London community and the surrounding community. So it’s really a service focus for us. And then the service is delivered partly by our faculty and staff and partly by students who are engaged in community and community-based learning,” he said.
The baker’s dozen of planned programs includes a community legal clinic, a pediatric centre, a gallery for works of Indigenous artists, a community video studio, a home for some of the local-government program’s courses, and a “collaboratorium” that will be a multipurpose space for hosting events, competitions and symposiums.
“So students are getting really valuable, hands-on experiences. . . and they’re delivering important services to London and the surrounding community,” Shepard said. “It’s a teaching moment for us, but it’s also an opportunity to give back to the London community.”
Ideas for how to use the new space were solicited from Western’s campus community. After carrying out major renovations, Western expects to reopen the building at Talbot and Queens Avenue in the second half of 2023.
Downtown London helped the school find a spot for its new downtown home during a three-year search. The university bought the building last year for $7.3 million.
“This is great because it does help with that whole community-engagement piece,” said Barbara Maly, executive director of Downtown London. “There’s a lot of fresh and new ideas that students and grads bring to a community.”
Fanshawe College has a campus housed in three buildings downtown, including the former Kingsmill’s department store, Maly noted. Even though schooling was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic the last two years, the downtown presence is paying off for Fanshawe and the core.
“We’re hearing that some of our local restaurants and hotels, they’re actually hiring some of these (Fanshawe) students, whether it be on a co-op or even on a permanent basis,” she said, a result of the college “building strong relationships with other community players in the downtown.”
The structure at 450 Talbot St. was built in 1906-07 and was one of the first buildings in London made with reinforced concrete. Known as the Greene-Swift building, it was named after the company that made men’s and boys’ clothing and uniforms for the London fire department from the early 1900s until the 1930s.
The building was converted into offices in the 1950s and became home to the Harrison Pensa law firm in 1999.
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