2.2 ENGAGEMENT EVENTS SUMMARY

2.2.1 VISIONING SESSION

A Visioning Session with senior leadership occurred in September 2022 to determine the overall direction for the Master Plan. Through the Visioning Session, three overall goals for the Master Plan emerged: to allow the people of NWP to “show their work”, to come together, and to seek innovative space solutions supporting flexibility and optimization. These goals for the Master Plan provide clear connections between NWP’s strategic goals and the space it occupies. The themes and findings from the Visioning Session were then synthesized and 3 key principles were derived to guide decisionmaking:

1. Bold, hard questions welcome

2. Priority one: students

3. Long-term sustainability

2.2.2 STAKEHOLDER MEETINGS

Following the Visioning Session, stakeholder interviews were conducted through 26 focus group sessions with over 160 internal and external stakeholders. These meetings with stakeholders (internal and external) provided insight into a series of issues, concerns, and potential opportunities across NWP’s campuses. They also ensured that the draft vision and principles accurately reflected the community’s aspirations for the institution. Stakeholders were asked a series of questions to understand how NWP’s space can be better used to achieve the goals set out in the Strategic Plan and the institution’s connection to community. The consultation methods for the meetings were adjusted on the group size and makeup, including interviews, written answers to prompts on shared note paper allowing for agreement and comment on other’s thoughts (often called a gallery walk), and site tours. External stakeholders met as small groups and were led through a series of questions.

Feedback gathered included many of the themes raised during the visioning and background project meetings, including the notion of consolidating Trades at Grande Prairie from the Trades building to the L and M buildings, examining classroom utilization, and the desire to collaborate as a polytechnic community.

The stakeholder conversations were collected and reported based on the six pillars defined in the NWP strategic plan.

See Appendix B for detailed stakeholder meeting results.

2.2.3 SURVEY

NWP Student Association administered an online survey in January 2023 that allowed students to provide feedback on what is currently working and what needs to be improved regarding student space on campus. A summary of the survey results have been provided here and indicated the following (See Appendix C for full Survey Results):

• The areas that students felt “say NWP” the most include the theatre concourse, cafeteria/ Pillars, and the learning commons. The Student’s Association/ Howlers/ Notley Square, the fitness area, and the whole campus were also identified as spaces that “say NWP.” A significant number of commenters also said that there was no space on campus that reflected NWP.

• Students had several preferred locations to hang out on campus. The learning commons and theatre concourse were the most popular, followed by academic space (including HEC) and Pillars/ cafeteria.

• The kinds of spaces that are missing include individual and group study space and hang out space. Students wanted to have better access to food, power/ heat, activity space and outdoor space.

• Students were most interested in seeing natural light, comfort, power and quiet in student spaces.

2.2.4 OPEN HOUSES (TOWNHALLS)

Open houses were held in February 2023 at both campuses. Eighty-seven people signed into the open houses. Many of the people interviewed in the stakeholder meetings also attended the open houses and commented that they found their feedback included in the recommendations.

Specific feedback included:

• Concern surrounding the operational implications of a collaborative office environment including confidentiality, heads down requirements,

• A desire for increased access and utilization of green space, particularly in Grande Prairie,

• Thoughts on student housing on both campuses, including adding indigenous family housing, allowing student pets and on improving building conditions in some buildings,

• Considerations for relocating office suites to improve acoustics, adjacencies to other units,

• Improving accessibility and equity through improved ramping, gender neutral and accessible washrooms

• Offering the same opportunities in Fairview as on the Grande Prairie campus.