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SYDNEY, N.S.

A Dartmouth-based design firm has been hired to figure out a way to move the Nova Scotia Community College Marconi Campus to downtown Sydney.

The provincial government announced Friday that Ekistics Planning and Design had been awarded the $144,586 contract.

The firm will be tasked with consulting with those affected by the massive relocation project. The NSCC Marconi Campus, with a student population of 1,200, is adjacent to Cape Breton University.

The study will look at space requirements and potential locations, campus design, student impacts and transportation needs. The province says the work will begin immediately, and will conclude by December.

“We look forward to the advice and recommendations this study will provide as we continue to move ahead with this important relocation, which will help revitalize downtown Sydney,” Municipal Affairs Minister Derek Mombourquette, the MLA for Sydney-Whitney Pier, said in a news release Friday.

Ekistics Planning and Design is no stranger to working in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

The company was responsible for a March 2014 study that outlined a conceptual vision for the Sydney waterfront. The study was commissioned by the CBRM and the now-defunct Enterprise Cape Breton Corp.

The CBRM council also endorsed in principal a 2017 plan from Ekistics to revitalize downtown Sydney which called for $10.5 million in investments for the area including $7.5 million to redesign Charlotte Street from Dorchester to Townsend streets.

More recently, Business Cape Breton retained Ekistics to lead the process in the revitalization efforts for Glace Bay, Reserve Mines and Dominion, which are currently ongoing.

The final report from Ekistics will serve as a direction for the development and construction of a new Marconi campus.

The idea of moving the campus has been brought up in political circles since as early as 2009 when then-premier Rodney MacDonald said it could help revive the urban centre of Sydney.

The discussion was revived in 2015 when CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke sent a letter to then-transportation minister Geoff MacLellan on the prospect of moving the campus to the downtown.

The NSCC leases the existing campus complex from the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal.

Related stories: NSCC Marconi campus to relocate to downtown Sydney

NSCC Marconi campus moving?

chris.shannon@cbpost.com

Twitter: @cbpost_chris