New Engineering Building

Another big investment will be made in a new building on the south side of the Chemical Engineering building, at the back of the Snape Building. The New Engineering Building (its working title) - with a whopping 7 200 assignable square meters of space - will house the Department of Civil Engineering, as well as several research groups for the still-growing Department of Chemical Engineering. Demolition of the Civil Engineering laboratories started on 1 December 2010, and building will start after the June 2011 exams.

Occupancy is scheduled for 2013.

The project will cost R187 million, to be funded by a grant from the Department of Education, UCT capital appropriations, and funds to be raised by the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment.

Temporary workshops and laboratories for the Department of Civil Engineering will be set up at the Maintenance building, on the south-west extremity of Upper Campus.

And what of parking for the new building? Construction will mean the loss of parking lot P12, says Briers. "But keep in mind that the Department of Economics and ICTS have moved or will move from Upper Campus, which immediately lightens the load. We will also be extending the parking lot below Educare during the course of 2011."