Grand Opening!

Ron Joyce Centre Opens – DeGroote School of Business, Burlington

Yesterday Tourism Burlington staff attended the official opening of the Ron Joyce Centre and were able to tour for the first time, this fabulous new educational and conference facility.  The building’s striking architecture is apparent as soon as you enter the lobby with light streaming in from windows and beautiful tile floors and striking stone walls. 

The Grand Opening Cake

Our team was pleased to join McMasterUniversity, the City of Burlington, Halton Region and the sponsors and donors to this project to celebrate this significant milestone.  Dean Paul Bates was the M.C. of the formalities and likened this new DeGroote location as a new vine and the students the fruit.   McMaster President Dr. Patrick Dean said that this magnificent building was both utility, inspiration, location, content, responsibility and aspiration.  All speakers thanked the generosity of the DeGroote family for donating the property and Ron Joyce for his $10m leadership gift to the project.  Mayor Cam Jackson indicated that DeGroote Business SchoolBurlington is in one word “transformational”.    coming to

One of the lounges

Our tour guide Lucy gave us an insider’s view of the facility often coaxing staff in the various sectors to talk about their jobs and programs.  This was a great way to learn about and ask questions about specific activities.  We toured the three floors of this LEED certified building and were particularly interested in the event space.  It offers versatile set-up making it suitable for business meetings, receptions and conferences. It has a 250 seat tiered auditorium with leather seats (Tourism tested - very comfortable!) a Great Hall where the opening reception was held with a capacity for 400 people and a patio overlooking a naturalized area.  There are also three 70 seat tiered classrooms and 27 small group breakout rooms making this an ideal location for conferences.  The 16 person boardroom would be perfect for smaller presentations and video conferencing.  The building has been created in square with the centre area open from the lobby to a huge glass skylight.  The design also includes glass walls and large windows that allows natural light in making it feel open.  On a clear day like today you could even see the lake from the 3^rd floor.

250 seat tiered Auditorium

 The Centre is offering both an MBA and Executive Management Program and students have already started, with many of the breakout rooms busy with students working on projects.  By 2013 they expect to have between 600-800 students which will be great for Burlington businesses.  We look forward to working with them to attract new conferences and meetings to our city and encouraging students to stay in our local accommodations.    

The Ron Joyce Centre is located on 4350 South Service Rd. between Walkers and Appleby just south of the QEW. 

From the bottom up!

TourBurlGirl

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