New designs shows future of TMU medical school coming to Brampton

New designs show what Brampton’s Bramalea Civic Centre could look like once it’s transformed into a state-of-the-art medical school and primary care clinic.

Toronto Metropolitan University is expected to open its new Brampton School of Medicine campus in September 2025, which will see the gutting of the old civic centre and lead to the relocation of the city’s busiest library.

The school has selected Diamond Schmitt Architects and Indigenous-owned design firm Two Row Architect to consult on the project and designs, with new renderings showing what the school could look like once the revamp is complete.

TMU’s campus will be the first new medical school in Ontario in over 30 years and is expected to open with space for at least 80 undergraduate seats and some 95 postgraduate positions. The province also announced plans to add hundreds of new medical school seats across Ontario last year, including in Brampton.

TMU says the new school will have classrooms that support “functional, flexible and collaborative active learning,” lab and study spaces, and a four-storey interconnected atrium at the main west entrance.

The library will have individual and group study spaces, and the school will house case-based learning teaching labs as well as simulation and digital anatomy labs.

Other amenities include plans for event, gallery and maker spaces, a communal kitchen with a student-run herb garden, and academic research and administrative offices for faculty and staff.

The south wing of the facility is being designed as a hub for teaching and learning with a community clinic on the ground floor that will add “much-needed health care capacity for the Brampton community,” TMU says.

A report from the school presented to Brampton City Council last year showed the school is expected to create over 7,000 direct and indirect jobs in Peel Region, and could also generate between $1.2 to $2.6 billion in economic activity over the next decade.

TMU says the school and primary care clinic will help fill a gap in the city’s healthcare system while providing a “community-based learning environment for TMU students.”

Brampton’s gift of the civic centre to TMU wasn’t without controversy, as the decision forced the Brampton Library to move its Chinguacousy branch from the BCC to the Mount Chinguacousy Ski Chalet. The branch, which was the largest and busiest library in the city, saw a downgrade in both size and services when it reopened and the move prompted complaints and a petition by community members opposed to the decision.

The new TMU School of Medicine in Brampton is expected to open in September.