Media look on as Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate breaks the ground of the new Griffith Business School building site at the University’s Gold Coast campus
Griffith Business School is set to expand on the Gold Coast with work on a new $35 million building to start at the University’s Parklands campus shortly.
Future business students can look forward to learning and training in the state of the art surrounds of the modern new facility from January 2014, with work scheduled for completion inside 12 months.Construction of the seven-storey facility will be fast-tracked to meet the scheduled opening date of the nearby Griffith University Station on the Gold Coast Rapid Transit System in September 2013.
“This initiative confirms unequivocally Griffith Business School’s commitment to the Gold Coast region,” Pro Vice Chancellor (Business), Professor Michael Powell, said.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate joined Vice Chancellor Professor Ian O’Connor, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) and Campus Provost Professor Ned Pankhurst and Professor Powell for the official turning of the first sod at the site. He climbed aboard an earth-moving digger and with the deft hand of the engineer that he is broke the ground on the new site.
The new building announcement coincides with the recent launch of Griffith’s Business Plus program. It enables students to combine their studies in business with another area that’™s important to them, giving them a more tailor-made degree with an area of personal interest or speciality.
Professor Michael Powell
“We are very aware of the ever-increasing numbers of high-achieving school leavers living on and moving to the Gold Coast with an interest in studying business at university,” Professor Powell said in the lead up to today’s ceremony.
“We are also very excited and optimistic about the contribution our business graduates can make to the local economy. Highly-trained graduates, armed with the latest knowledge, newest techniques and the ability to bring bright, innovative ideas into the Gold Coast marketplace bodes well for the future of this fast-growing region.
“This is the right time and the right place for the Griffith Business School to invest, and we do so with a renewed confidence.”
The building will be home to academic and administrative staff and higher degree research students from the Departments of Accounting, Finance and Economics, International Business and Asian Studies, Employment Relations and Human Resources, Marketing, and the newly-formed School of Government and International Relations.
Communication and integration will be enhanced with staff and students at the Department of Tourism, Leisure, Hotel and Sport Management, who will continue to be based nearby.
The new building on Parklands Drive will provide a focal point for teaching and Gold Coast-centred research activities. It will also provide a dynamic backdrop for new initiatives in the MBA and in customised executive education.
Abigroup Contractors are the design and construction consultants on the project, shaping the new facility with Wilson Architects. The building’s design will also incorporate a specialised teaching space associated with banking, finance and financial planning in the form of a simulated trading room.
