About Us

Physical Plant is responsible for all activities related to operations, maintenance and construction of the buildings and grounds for both the Thunder Bay and Orillia campuses. We have 206,742 m2 / (2,225,425 ft2) of building space and over 150 ha / (370 acres) of property on both campuses. This includes:

  • Campus Utilities – heat, air-conditioning, electricity, water, etc.
  • Maintenance – routine repairs, roofs, walls, plumbing, electrical, key requests, doors / locks, etc.
  • Grounds – maintaining lawns, trees, roads and parking lots, snow removal, etc.
  • Housekeeping / Shipping Receiving – general cleaning, recycling, moving & deliveries, etc.
  • Planning and Construction– campus planning, major and minor capital projects.
  • By-law and Code Compliance – Fire Code, Building Code, Electrical Code, etc.

We are a team of over 50 staff in trades, custodians, grounds-keepers, electricians, plumbers, project managers working to keep the campus clean, buildings operating and construction on track.

Physical Plant is dedicated to creating quality customer-oriented services for a safe and healthy environment conducive to research, learning, study, work and plan. Over 9,000 work orders are produced annually in addition to the day-to-day operational problems.

It is our commitment to provide Lakehead University Community with a reliable, environment with services of the highest quality in a courteous and timely manner.

Physical Plant Responsibility

The University is required by law to comply with numerous codes and regulations, and is both financially and legally liable for failure to do so. For this reason it is required that any work being carried out which falls under the jurisdiction of all building and fire codes and regulations be carried out under the authority, direction and supervision of Physical Plant. While the overall responsibility for provision of these services may rest with the Physical Plant department, the financial responsibility (i.e. source of funds) may not. It is a Physical Plant responsibility to confirm the source of funds before any work commences and to provide the necessary estimates for funding allocation.

Definition of Maintenance

Any work required to keep facilities or building related equipment in an acceptable state of repair so that it can perform satisfactorily in its existing form.

Mission Statement

To provide operating and maintenance services for campus facilities, to continually support the learning process at Lakehead University by sustaining a clean, positive and safe environment, in the most cost effective manner.