Five things to know about U of T’s deferred maintenance in 2022

The University of Toronto has some of the most prestigious architecture and beautiful urban green spaces in Ontario.

With more than 115,000 students, faculty, librarians, and staff using more than 200 buildings across 286 hectares, keeping up with facility renewal is a major undertaking. 

What’s more, we are planning the future of U of T’s extensive infrastructure amid changing economic tides and imminent climate change. 

Read on for five key things to know about the state of deferred maintenance at the university in 2022 and how Facilities & Services is tackling these challenges. 

Deferred maintenance is actually deferred renewal 

Deferred maintenance is the postponement of major building and equipment renewal and upgrades from an organization’s normal budget cycle due to a lack of funds. 

“The term deferred maintenance can be easily misinterpreted,” says Ron Saporta, U of T’s chief operating officer, property services and sustainability. 

“We don’t defer maintenance. Deferred maintenance is when major building equipment is not renewed or upgraded within its useful lifetime. At U of T, we focus on ensuring our systems are maintained and operating effectively while prioritizing deferred maintenance funding in a fair and fiscally responsible way.” 

Our campus facilities are the backbone of world-class research and teaching 

Campus spaces and grounds must be kept safe, comfortable, reliable, and up to date. 

Our ability to address deferred maintenance needs has direct consequences on everything from the student experience on campus, to attracting top research and teaching talent, and preventing unexpected failures and incidents inside our buildings and on our grounds that can disrupt teaching, research, and campus life. 

Our deferred maintenance backlog increased to $961M 

The total cost of tri-campus deferred maintenance rose from $821M in 2021 to $961M in 2022—driven significantly by high inflation in the non-residential building construction sector. 

Last year, Toronto experienced the largest year-over-year inflation among Canadian metropolitan areas of 15.6% to 17.5% compared to pre-pandemic rates of 2.5% to 3.0% in 2020. 

It’s more important than ever to invest in facility renewal  

It’s well established that climate change poses a high risk to physical infrastructure.  

More frequent and extreme heat and precipitation events and changing freeze-thaw cycles can lead to flooding and cracks in building materials and other issues. 

According to the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario, we can expect a total increase of 7% to 29% in the costs of operating and maintaining public buildings by 2100.  

“Inflation in the construction sector and the growing risk of adverse weather events pose a unique set of challenges: the need to invest more in renewal and resilience with the need to spend fewer, increasingly limited funds,” says Saporta. 

We therefore plan deferred maintenance together with new capital projects and decarbonization initiatives. Combined, these initiatives have the potential to address nearly a tenth of deferred maintenance by replacing building elements and systems at or beyond their useful remaining life. 

We have a variety of projects planned for 2023 

Deferred maintenance projects are selected objectively using a comprehensive risk-based methodology. 

In 2023, we will continue to replace roofs, perform major upgrades to elevators, as well as address renewal in electrical and mechanical systems, paved surfaces, and interior finishes. 

Read the 2022 U of T deferred maintenance report.