In the June 2005 Capital Projects Report, the university outlined its plans to construct a Child Development Centre (CDC) in partnership with the then Calgary Health Region.  Located just east of the Alberta Children’s Hospital, adjacent to, but not within the technical boundaries of the West Campus lands, the CDC would be eight stories, 12,000 square metres, with a projected completion date of summer 2006.  There would be some provincial funding, while leasing to tenants would cover the rest of the estimated cost of $26 million.

When the building opened on October 9, 2007, it was four stories high but with the same projected footprint.  The cost came to $37 million.  In 2008, the CDC won the APEGGA award for Environment and Sustainability for excellence in preserving the environment and sustainable development through the application of engineering.  At the time, the Child Development Centre was “the world’s largest cold-climate building built to a Platinum LEED standard.”

The CDC provides space for 80 children to attend the University’s second child care centre, an additional service that had been advocated for in the 1990 President’s Action Committee on Child Care.   The balance of space “is dedicated to providing academic study and research, community services and training opportunities for researchers, clinicians and community groups working alongside families and children with a range of developmental challenges and conditions.”