On July 16, in anticipation of the opening of Durham College’s (DC) new Centre for Collaborative Education (CFCE), demolition of the Simcoe building began.

“Thousands of students, hundreds of employees and countless student groups and service areas called the Simcoe building’s classrooms, offices and meeting rooms home for nearly 50 years,” said Don Lovisa, president, DC. “While the building will no longer be physically present, its place in the college’s history will be forever remembered.”

Part of DC’s Building Something Amazing capital campaign, the new four-storey CFCE will replace the Simcoe building by bringing together local, Indigenous and global communities, and provide a new home for several of the college’s innovative and ground-breaking programs.

The demolition will also reclaim land for the Simcoe Geothermal Field project, a living lab that will help to create a net-zero carbon footprint in existing campus buildings. It will be incorporated into a wide variety of program curricula to address new green-energy technologies and careers.

In commemoration of the Simcoe building and its impact on campus life through the years, pieces of its iconic stone façade, removed as part of the ground-breaking ceremony in 2016, have been incorporated into the CFCE as part of a unique entrance feature wall that symbolizes the integration of DC’s history and future. Additional stone will also be relocated to the student lounge in the Student Centre after its renovations are complete.

Demolition on the Simcoe building is expected to be complete in August.