MacKimmie Block and Link closed

By Nikayla Goddard, October 1 2019 —

On Sept. 28, MacKimmie Block and Link permanently closed to allow for the completion of the redevelopment project. This includes the Plus 15 access from the Taylor Family Digital Library, which will be closed until the project’s completion in the summer of 2022.

The project website for the MacKimmie Block and Professional Facilities Building Redevelopment claims exterior access between Murray Fraser Hall and MacKimmie Tower is now open to provide a new route between the TFDL and Swann Mall area.

While Enrolment Services, Office of the Registrar, UC International, UC Study Abroad and University Relations can still be found in MacKimmie Tower, relocated offices include Com/Media moving to Math Sciences, the Exam Centre moving to Science A, the Faith and Spirituality Centre to MacEwan Student Centre, and Library and Cultural Resources and the Scholars Academy to the TFDL. 

The project itself will provide support for 500 new students through what the project calls a “re-energized central hub of new classrooms, centralized undergraduate and graduate student services, new formal and informal student study space, and expanded academic space.” The new block will also serve as the home for the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking.

The project began in April of 2016 with the Alberta government announcing initial design and planning, followed by the province announcing in March 2017 that they would give $262.8 million to the project. 

A UCalgary news article from May of 2016 says that the “original MacKimmie Block was completed in 1963 and housed the Registrar’s office, communications and media services, and seminar rooms used by continuing education […] The MacKimmie Tower, along with the link to the block, was completed in 1972. The complex housed the university’s main library collection until 2009 when the Taylor Family Digital Library opened.”