Across Queen’s, classrooms, residences, and shared spaces are being renovated and expanded to better serve the people who learn, teach, live, and work in them. Other projects are improving the essential infrastructure that keeps campus buildings accessible, sustainable, and ready for future needs.

“Together with major investments in research buildings and facilities, this work helps Queen’s meet the needs of its community today and sustain excellence in teaching, learning, and research into the future,” says Donna Janiec, VP (Finance and Administration). “It also helps us shape the kind of campus that can attract students, faculty, and staff as the university works toward its Bicentennial Vision.”

Many of these projects have been planned and funded over several years. Here is a look at some of the work underway:
 

Educational Spaces

Duncan McArthur Hall

A major transformation of Duncan McArthur Hall has created new teaching, learning, and gathering spaces for the Faculty of Education on West Campus.

The project responds to significant growth in the faculty, adding modern spaces for training future educators, expanded study and social areas, and new Indigenous Teacher Education spaces with improved access to the Sacred Medicine Garden.

Work began in 2024 and is nearly complete, with minor finishing work and landscaping underway.

Elbow Lake Indigenous Learning Centre

A new Indigenous Learning Centre at the Elbow Lake Environmental Education Centre will provide dedicated space for Indigenous teaching and ceremonies with several accessible features including parking, pathways and entrances. 

The Elbow Lake site serves as the education campus of Queen’s University Biological Station (QUBS), and was established through an agreement between Queen’s and the Nature Conservancy of Canada. It offers outreach programming, facility rentals, and access to interpretive hiking trails.

The new learning centre held a ground awakening ceremony in June 2025 to mark the beginning of construction. It will officially open this fall.
 

Teaching and learning spaces

Queen's has upgraded more than 25 classroom spaces in recent years to advance active learning pedagogies and increase access to digital technology. These renovations have included new features for accessibility, including moveable and variable width seating, height adjustable podiums and tables, acoustic treatments, variable lighting controls, and multiple whiteboards, projectors, and/or screens.

That work informed the Queen’s Teaching and Learning Space Framework, which provides guidelines for designing new learning spaces that enhance student engagement, enable the use of new technologies, and foster innovative approaches to teaching and learning.

The university is now engaging consultants to design its next priority classroom projects which include combining two auditoriums in Stirling Hall to create a 400-seat auditorium; the creation of two active learning classrooms in Jeffery Hall that will each accommodate more than 175 students and a new 80 seat classroom in Humphrey Hall.
 

Residences Revitalization

Waldron Tower residence refurbishment

The 11-storey Waldron tower is home to 230 students in single-occupancy rooms. This project will modernize these spaces within the tower section, while retaining their existing layouts, with new plumbing and electrical wiring, as well as upgraded communications cabling, lighting, and other architectural, mechanical, and electrical components. 

Work began in June 2026 and will take place over five summers, allowing the rooms to remain available during the fall and winter terms. The project is expected to be completed in Fall 2030. 

Leonard Hall residence washrooms refurbishment

More than 200 shower and toilet facilities are being converted into separate gender-neutral pods. The work will take place over the next three summers to limit disruption during the academic year and is expected to be completed by Fall 2028. 

The project follows major renovations of the residence’s dining area and kitchens, completed in 2024.

 

Project Connect construction is underway, as is the nearby Agnes Reimagined revitalization project.

Building Accessibility and Campus Beautification 

Project Connect

Project Connect brings together four projects to address long-standing deferred maintenance, improve the reliability of steam services, update landscaping, and make key buildings more accessible. 

The work spans an area between Macintosh-Corry and Ellis halls, Bader Lane, University Avenue, and Watson Hall. It includes underground infrastructure and earthworks along the Ellis–Jeffery Hall corridor, waterproofing the Jeffery Hall podium roof, accessibility upgrades to Watson Hall, and waterproofing and drainage improvements at Harrison-LeCaine Hall. 

Construction began in May 2026 and is expected to be completed by summer 2027.

Fleming Hall – Jemmett Wing

Renovations to the Jemmett Wing of Fleming Hall are now complete. For the next several years, the building will provide temporary space for units affected by various capital improvements elsewhere on campus. 

The project adds an accessible entrance and elevator, and universal washrooms on each floor. It also included removing the second-story walkway bridge between the Jemmett and Stuart-Pollock wings and replacing parts of the aging plumbing and electrical systems. The improvements bring the building into line with Queen’s Facility Accessibility Design Standards (QFADS).

Mackintosh-Corry washroom refurbishment

Washrooms near the elevators where Wings B and F meet in Mackintosh-Corry Hall are being renovated to improve privacy, accessibility, and comfort.

The work spans levels 1-5 and includes two new universal washrooms, one on Level 1 and one on Level 5, along with 14 gender-neutral private washrooms, and a replacement for the existing men’s washroom on Level 2. Upgrades include new plumbing fixtures and connections, washroom partitions, counters, accessories, flooring, wall and ceiling finishes, lighting, and ventilation components.  

Expect intermittent noise between October 20 and 30 during construction on Levels 3-5. The full project is expected to be complete by late February 2027.
 

Renovations to the Jemmett Wing of Fleming Hall are now complete, improving accessibility and comfort.

More capital investment is planned

Planning for the next phase of campus investment includes a 2026 update to the Campus Master Plan, which will guide longer-term decisions about how the university develops and uses its spaces.

Other priorities under consideration include student housing, critical utility infrastructure needed to support future campus expansion, and potential uses for university properties such as the former Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute (KCVI).