The Colborne Architectural Group Pacific was commissioned in 1993-94 to advance UBC's 'Administrative Space Master Plan' which involved building assessment, space planning and cost estimating of improvements at several campus administrative building locations. As a result, our firm was requested to carry out detailed design for several of these buildings including office and support space for the University President and Vice-President's offices in the 'Old Admin'. The design assignment commenced in 1996 with subsequent phases being completed in 1998-'99.

The existing building is one of the UBC's early 'temporary' buildings, a 2-storey plus partial basement wood frame structure dating back to 1925 with a mid-'60's addition. Senior University administrators and their staff are housed here in very modest conditions. These became the subject of general re-planning, code upgrades including new elevator, accessible entrances, mechanical-electrical-telecom upgrades, new finishes and furnishing throughout the 24,000 sq. ft. building, including the high profile 'Board & Senate Room'. The basement level was converted from low-use activity space to fully utilized office and meeting areas with new washrooms and accessible entry ramp as a latter phase. A key aspect of this project for our office was the need to reconcile disparate user group requests with a very restricted budget. Phase 1 construction cost $650K (1996); Phase 2 construction cost $400K (1999).