The future of the Physical Education Centre (PEC) is under discussion after the three gyms at the Centre were reopened last week.

In December 2012, Bartlett, Bews and Ross gyms were reopened for exams. Further expansions and development for a health and wellness centre in the PEC have become platform points for some AMS executive candidates.

Last year, current AMS executives Johnson-Dineen-Lee (team JDL) lobbied for the reopening of the PEC.

Tristan Lee, vice president of operations, said this was one of their more contentious platform points.

“We found that it was definitely going to happen in the summer and we were just overjoyed that we were able to accomplish that piece [of our platform],” Lee, ArtSci ’12 said.

According to him, team JDL saw overwhelming student support for the project. This led to them working with Student Affairs who had also been interested in seeing the building reopen.

A proposal was then submitted to Provost and Vice Principal (Academic), Alan Harrison, after which Athletics and Recreation joined the effort.

“We thought that there’s obviously this huge desire for more intramurals space and [the reopening] seemed like a really logical solution,” Lee said.

The PEC, located on Union St. between University Ave. and Division St., was closed in 2009 after the opening of the Queen’s Centre — now home to Queen’s Athletics and Recreation.

The entire renovation cost was $1.4 million. Assessments and cost estimates began in Spring 2012 and work started in the following October.

So far, the gyms are open for exams and intramurals. They’ve been used for exams in previous years, but were later closed.

Prior to its opening, the building needed to be brought up to accessibility regulations. To “open,” or make the PEC accessible for all, could have cost up to $2 million.

The limestone-clad building was constructed in 1930-31 and cost just under $6 million.

Lee said it was concluded after the assessments that opening the entire building for Health, Counselling and Disability Services (HCDS) wasn’t financially viable due to costs of opening and renovations.

“There’s a lot of the building that’s still closed off,” Lee said.

Ann Tierney, associate vice-provost and dean of student affairs, said there are still a few cosmetic tweaks needed but the space is ready for exams and intramurals.

Just over 300 students can write exams in each of the three gyms at one time.

“It’s much easier to have large venues,” she said, adding that larger classes won’t be divided between exam rooms now.

Jeff Downie, associate director for business development and facilities for Athletics and Recreation, said since its opening the PEC has allowed the intramural waiting list for students to drop from 1,000 to zero.

He estimated that there are more than 6,000 students playing intramurals at Queen’s.

“When we hear from a student who comes to Queen’s and says, ‘Well I really wanted to play basketball but I didn’t get my team in on time,’ that’s probably the most disheartening for us,” he said.

The goal was to expand gym space to allow more opportunities for students, Downie said.

“We’ve got waiting lists in so many different areas, that if we can … expand it and add more teams then maybe we could start to look at new sports in the ARC or the PEC.”