NSCAD University signs deal to consolidate three campuses at the Halifax Seaport

HALIFAX – NSCAD University, Canada’s oldest degree-granting art school, announced Tuesday that it has signed an agreement with the Halifax Port Authority to bring together all three of its downtown campuses at a site in the Halifax Seaport.

The lease for the waterfront properties, known as Shed 22 and Shed 23, has yet to be finalized and the cost of the project was not revealed as design work hasn’t started.

But NSCAD president Peggy Shannon says the plan is to complete the project by 2030.

The university, formerly known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, already has a campus at the port, and plans are in the works to move two other downtown campuses to the new site south of the Canadian Immigration Museum at Pier 21.

The new spaces will add about 100,000 square feet to NSCAD’s existing footprint at its Port Campus.

The decision to move out of the school’s historic downtown properties on the Granville Mall, known as the Fountain Campus, was made in September 2015.

“It’s our time to step back onto the world stage with an iconic new campus — a purpose-built, accessible facility that will support and inspire creativity of the next generation of students,” Shannon said in a statement.

Founded in 1887 as the Victoria School of Art and Design, the school was renamed the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1969 and then became NSCAD University in 2003.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2022.

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