CMT Barry Wheeler at UG helps student housing project be accessible

[Guest guest]

(Note: I believe Barry is the brother of Wheeler, who began

the CMT World Magazine followed by the website cmtworld.org)

Student housing project accessible, green

Off-campus lodging house for physically disabled students will be

eco-friendly

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GUELPH (May 3, 2007)

A lodging house near the University of Guelph campus is being

retrofitted to make it accessible for students with physical

disabilities.

Six bedrooms will be added to the brick home to make 12 bedrooms in

all. There will be wider hallways, lowered light switches, an

elevator to the second floor and kitchen appliances that can be

reached from a wheelchair.

And much of the work will be done with green technology in a

$650,000 project that's partially funded by donations from

undergraduate students.

The house at 7 College Ave. W., now an affordable home for students

maintained by the Guelph Campus Co-operative, is being renovated to

suit the needs of physically disabled peers who prefer off-campus

living. Students will pay $400 a month in rent.

The project's groundbreaking ceremony took place yesterday morning.

Walls will be knocked out, more room will be made, and green

features will be added for good measure.

An addition to the south side of the house will be green from the

ground up, with in-floor radiant heating, passive solar heating and

cooling, and plenty of vegetation on the grounds and on the balcony

overlooking the veterinary college across the street.

Barry Wheeler said he wishes he was a student again, just so he

could live in the house.

The adviser to disabled students uses a scooter to get around, his

limbs weakened by a degenerative neuromuscular disorder called

Charcot-Marie-Tooth.

Through his job he helps many of the University of Guelph's more

than 800 students who have disabilities such as learning

difficulties, mobility issues and chronic medical issues.

Many students prefer the freedom of living off campus, he said.

While there is sufficient accessible housing on campus, it is hard

to find appropriate housing outside of the residences, Wheeler said.

Completion of the addition and renovation at 7 College St. is slated

for Sept. 1, in time for fall term.

Initial project costs were pegged at $350,000, but now that

construction has begun, that estimate has grown to $650,000.

The elevator alone will cost about $46,000. In 2003, undergraduate

students voted to each pay 87 cents a semester toward a fund to

create more accessible student housing.

The College Avenue project is partially funded through those

donations. The campus co-op hopes to raise more money through

government grants and private donations

" That's the thing about affordable housing, it's not affordable to

build, " campus co-op housing manager Tom Klein Beernink said at

yesterday's groundbreaking.

He said the progressive home is a model he hopes will inspire others.

" Smart buildings are not only possible, they are necessary. "