Campus Development Plan 2026
ImagiNAITion: Redefining our Campus
NAIT’s Campus Development Plan is the roadmap for future growth and demonstrates our promises to learners, industry partners, staff, and communities.
- Our vision for achieving that commitment considers the facilities and infrastructure we have today and what we’ll need for tomorrow.
- This Campus Development Plan sets our vision for the growth of NAIT’s physical infrastructure and campus footprint.
Our learners expect from us only the very best. NAIT’s reputation is quality education and training that builds careers. The quality of our facilities needs to meet that expectation while supporting the growth our communities and industries need in the trades, health services, research, and business.
Beginning Spring 2025, NAIT is undertaking a full review of our Campus Development Plan with the goal of laying out a new plan by early 2026. When complete, it will be a Re-Imagination of the vision for our campus. It will include room for growth – of students, programs, buildings, and open spaces.
NAIT has contracted DIALOG to provide NAIT with a new Campus Development Plan. This includes imagination sessions with stakeholders and the wider community to gain an insight of what people want NAIT to be and how that may look. DIALOG will work with NAIT throughout 2025 to complete a final re-imagination by early 2026. DIALOG has also been contracted by NAIT to plan the Advanced Skills Centre.
Why Now?
The Campus Development Plan was last updated in 2020. Since then, NAIT has:
- Completed the purchase of the Blatchford lands;
- Begun the design of the Advanced Skills Centre in the old Westwood Bus Barns land;
- Begun the design of the new South Lobby;
- Started planning for a potential student residence, and;
- The City of Edmonton has opened the NAIT/Blatchford Market LRT Station.
Given the changes of the past 5 years and upcoming years, the new Campus Development Plan will update the long-term outlook and 30-year vision of NAIT’s land strategy and facility planning.
What Will the Campus Development Plan Cover?
The Campus Development Plan will look at how NAIT uses all of its current facilities, including the projected use and/or lifespan of those facilities. This includes all campuses – Main, Patricia, Souch, Spruce Grove, and Centre for Boreal Research.
The Plan will also examine the Blatchford and Westwood lands and how they can be utilized for the future of NAIT Main Campus. In January 2024, NAIT finalized an agreement with the City of Edmonton to acquire 13.27 hectares of land in the Blatchford Community immediately west of Main Campus. In a separate agreement, NAIT also acquired 4.8 hectares north of Main Campus on the site of the former Westwood Bus Barns.
Additionally, the plan will include the Advanced Skills Centre. Planning for this project – the largest in NAIT’s history – will be concurrent with the Campus Development Plan.
Learn More about the Advanced Skills Centre
What’s Next?
The Campus Development Plan project is underway. Over the next few months, NAIT and DIALOG will hold engagement sessions with various stakeholders across NAIT and in the Edmonton community. These smaller sessions will provide detailed thoughts on what DIALOG will need to consider for the future growth of NAIT.
Public engagement sessions will be held during the planning phases. Stay tuned to this space for updates on public sessions.
View the 2020 Campus Development Plan summary (pdf)
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