Cape Breton University to build $84-million green facility for research, teaching

The Cape Breton University sign is seen in an undated file photo.

SYDNEY, N.S. -

Cape Breton University has raised $84 million to create an energy-efficient facility for teaching and research at its campus in Sydney, N.S.

Ottawa is investing $20 million, the province $35 million, and the university is contributing about $29.5 million for the building, with work set to begin this spring.

The centre for discovery and innovation is being touted as a facility that will receive its energy from geothermal and solar systems, and help reduce the university's carbon emissions.

The university says in a release that the building will house laboratories, classrooms, research facilities and student services.

University president David Dingwall says he's expecting the centre will make Cape Breton University more attractive to students from across Canada and globally.

The Nova Scotia government also recently announced it will invest $58.9 million to develop a new medical school at Cape Breton University by fall of 2025.

Federal Infrastructure Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who attended the announcement in Sydney, said he sees the building project as a signal that Cape Breton University is part of the island's wider economic resurgence.

"It's going to take a 50-year-old (science) building and turn it into a state-of-the art, innovative, net-zero facility," he said in a telephone interview on Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2023.