At the beginning of her term as Principal, Hitchcock pushed for a major and controversial new infrastructure project, the Queen's Centre. It was to be the largest project undertaken by a Canadian university to that time, encompassing expanded and upgraded sports facilities, a student life centre and a new academic building. The project had a budget of $230 million, and was scheduled to take nearly a decade to complete. Groundbreaking took place two and a half years later, in February, 2007. Within fourteen months, the massive project would be 20% over budget.