Ontario Science Centre’s temporary home won’t open until January 2026
Ontario Science Centre’s temporary home won’t open until January 2026
A temporary home for the Ontario Science Centre won’t open until January 2026, according to the request for proposals for an interim site after the current facility was abruptly shut down last month.
A temporary home for the Ontario Science Centre won’t open until January 2026, according to the request for proposals for an interim site after the current facility was abruptly shut down last month.
“There will be nothing for anybody to visit for 18 months,” said Jason Ash, co-chair of Save Ontario’s Science Centre.
“That’s very different than the, albeit brief, public messaging that they’re looking for a temporary space night now,” he added. “But they don’t have one, and they closed it without having anything prepared. It just speaks to how they seem to operate in general.”
Ash Milton, press secretary to Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma, said Tuesday that the RFP’s target of opening the temporary site on Jan. 1, 2026 “reflects an accelerated timeline compared to standard industry practices to identify the best options that would accommodate the unique nature of the (science centre) requirements.”
The opening of the permanent home for the centre, however, is not as firm, with Milton saying it is set for “as early as 2028.”
With little notice, the Ministry of Infrastructure announced on June 21 that the Don Mills site would be immediately closed to the public. The science centre’s board voted to close the building after concerns were raised in an engineering report about the aerated concrete used in the roof that could lead to a collapse.
The science centre, which opened in 1969, was already due to be moved to the Ontario Place waterfront redevelopment site for 2028, but the abrupt shutdown has left officials scrambling to find an interim location and forced the relocation of summer camps to a nearby public school.
Surma has said the shutdown “will protect the health and safety of visitors and staff at the Ontario Science Centre while supporting its eventual reopening in a new, state-of-the-art facility.”
But Ash said advocates also question the 2028 opening of the new permanent home for the science centre at the Ontario Place redevelopment site, and believe it will likely be years later.
The interim site will be a scaled-back version of the Don Mills location. The request for proposals (RFP) is seeking a space of 50,000 to 100,000 square feet — about a fifth to one-tenth the size of the Don Mills site — that can be up and running by January 2026.
“The OSC is one of Ontario’s most significant cultural attractions, which since its opening in 1969 has seen over 54 million visitors. The OSC has long term plans to relocate to Ontario Place but will require an interim location in Toronto until its permanent facility opens to the public,” says the RFP.
“The Ministry of Infrastructure is working with the (science centre) to expeditiously source an interim site of approximately 50,000 — 100,000 square feet of retail/commercial space in a dynamic area of Toronto or surrounding areas that is suitable for this use and easily transit accessible,” with an application deadline of July 23.
The engineering report by Rimkus Consulting Group cited the aerated concrete used in the roof as a concern. In the United Kingdom, more than 100 schools were closed last fall just before the start of classes due to the risk of sudden collapse in buildings made of the same material.
The report said while the building is safe for now, rain or snow buildup could hasten damage, so the decision was made to close down the Don Mills site to give staff time to remove and move exhibitions by the end of October.
One roofing panel is in the “critical” category, another six per cent of the panels are “high risk,” nine per cent are “medium risk” while the remaining 84 per cent are “low risk.” The engineers had recommended all panels be replaced with steel decking at a cost of up to $40 million.
Private offers to cover the cost of the repairs have been coming in. Opposition critics at Queen’s Park have said it would cost less to replace the aerated concrete in the existing building than moving the centre to the waterfront, and that the work could be done in phases while keeping the centre open.
Article:
https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/ontario-science-centres-temporary-home-wont-open-until-january-2026/article_f575acfe-38a1-11ef-8e5b-6799e9b460cf.html
