Originally built in 1919, the Cheeze Factory is the oldest remaining building on campus, and has a rich and colourfulhistory. It was constructed under the “Soldiers’ Civil Re-establishment Program”, a vocational training program for returning World War I veterans, at a cost of $2,000. Soldiers returning from world war one, and later on civilians produced cheese in the Cheese Factory until the 2^nd World War. During the war, milk needed to be rationed, and so the price became too high to allow for cheese production, and the Cheese Factory ceased operations. Following the 2^nd World War, the building was repurposed to perform research on rabbits and chickens.

Up until the 60’s and 70’s, UBC Engineering students had taken classes and had their social spaces on the North Side of campus. Most classes were held in the Klinck building, and the departments had their clubs and workspaces in old army huts. Over time though, the department grew, and needed new spaces to house them. To accommodate this, the Frank Forward, CEME and MacLeod buildings were built, and the department began its move to the South side of campus.

In the 1970’s after the Faculty of Engineering had completed their move from the North to the South side of campus, the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS) was left without a dedicated space.

An enterprising EUS president noticed that the cheese factory was only partially in use, and so lobbied to be given access to the unused half of the building. Eventually, the building was renovated, and in 1985 was dedicated as a centre for engineering student activities, and renamed The Cheeze. Shortly after that, the experiments came to an end, and the second half of the building was given over to the engineers. Since that time, The Cheeze has become the home for the EUS, and the center of student life for engineers at UBC.

Unfortunately, as time has gone by, the needs of UBC Engineers have outgrown the space provided by the Cheeze. Since the Cheeze was given over to the engineers, the number of engineering students has more than doubled, while no additional space has been created to support this growth. As well, the Cheeze has recently begun to show its age, as parts of the building have been condemned. It is because of this, that a group of students took on the task of building a new student centre, to provide adequate study, meeting, group work and social space for students now, and well into the future.