Building & Properties Committee

Terms of Reference

1. MEMBERSHIP

This committee shall consist of a maximum of nine members. Of those, at least five members shall be members of the board appointed to the board by the Lieutenant Governor in Council or elected by the board from the community-at-large, and one shall be a faculty member of the board. 

One undergraduate student member of the board and one graduate student member of the board shall be members of the committee. If the presidents of the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association and the Graduate Student Association - UW are members of the board, then they shall serve respectively as the undergraduate and graduate student members of the committee. Should the president of the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association or the Graduate Student Association - UW be unwilling to serve on the committee or not be a member of the board, then the respective seat on the committee shall be filled by appointment from among student governors made by the president of the respective student association.  

It is expected that at least two members of the committee will have experience with capital construction and/or property development.

2. MEETINGS

The committee will meet at the call of the chair of the committee, but not less than four times annually.

The quorum for the transaction of business at any meeting of the committee shall be a majority of the members of the committee, present either in person, by teleconference or by videoconference.

3. TERMS OF REFERENCE

The committee is established for the following purposes:

To oversee campus planning and development activity in the context of the Campus Master Plan and prudent environmental sustainability practices, and not less than annually to perform a review of the Campus Master Plan in the context of the university strategic plan.

To make recommendations to the Board of Governors on campus planning and development initiatives, with due consideration to the impact on multi-campus sites, including (without limitation) the acquisition or disposal of land or buildings, the use of land, buildings and facilities, the siting of buildings and roads, and the review of all agreements to which the university is a party (including donor agreements and academic agreements) having impact on the acquisition, use and/or development of real property.

To approve, on behalf of the board, construction projects between $5,000,000 and $10,000,000 and to make recommendations to the Board of Governors regarding construction projects exceeding $10,000,000, including (without limitation) the appointment of architects and design consultants, the business plan and budget, the design, and the award of construction contracts.

To ensure that the university has in place appropriate procedures for cost estimating, competitive tendering of bids, awarding of contracts, contract administration, cost control and payment to contractors for all site work, new construction, alterations and major repair.

To ensure that the university complies with all building codes, fire codes, safety regulations and statutory and regulatory provisions, as appropriate, in its building and properties program, and to review compliance annually.

To ensure that the university has appropriate maintenance programs in place for buildings and properties.

To review annually the status of capital construction projects, including status of accumulated debt and compliance with approved debt policy.

To report on its activities to the Board of Governors at least annually.

To assess annually the adequacy of the committee’s terms of reference and to propose any needed amendments to the Governance Committee.

Approved by the Board of Governors, June 6, 2006.
Amended by the Board of Governors, April 1, 2008.
Amended by the Board of Governors, October 27,  2009.
Amended by the Board of Governors, April 2, 2013.
Amended by the Board of Governors, April 1, 2014.
Amended by the Board of Governors, February 4, 2020.
Amended by the Board of Governors, April 4, 2023.