About Us

At Grand House we offer you an all-inclusive living accommodation so you can focus on what’s most important to you; creating a comfortable and safe environment where you thrive both academically and socially. What sets us apart from any other housing option in Cambridge is that Grand House provides the experience of a main campus residence where you will build lasting relationships with the coziness of a home. You will live with students from different backgrounds, ages and ideals and you will learn from each other by sharing common environments but still maintain your privacy in your fully furnished bedroom. We pride ourselves in fostering a sense of community, support and mentorship.

Our Story

Perched on the side of a hill overlooking the Grand River and downtown Galt, the Grand House has been an icon for the City of Cambridge as well as the Waterloo Architecture community.

Creator’s Vision

A house for students, built by students. Created by master architecture student, Chantal Corneau, Grand House addressed a need for quality affordable student housing while promoting sustainable architecture. UW’s School of Architecture moved to Cambridge in 2004.

Owner

Nadir Ansari

Nadir Ansari was born in Amman, Jordan and immigrated to Chatham, Ontario, Canada at age 2, bringing his parents along.
In 1984, he earned a Bachelor of Engineering Science (Civil) and in 1987 he completed his Masters of Engineering Science (Structural), both from the University of Western Ontario (UWO).

Nadir is the CEO of Isherwood Engineering. Isherwood has been on the design team for Toronto landmarks such as the CN Tower, the Skydome (Rogers Centre), the Canadian Opera Company, the Sheppard Subway and plays a role in most significant excavations in Ontario and has completed work in Mexico, the Caribbean, across Canada and the US.

Nadir has always enjoyed the small business world both at Isherwood and its sister company Monir, which is involved in monitoring performance of designed installations.

Nadir first became involved in the Grand House during construction when his company solved the foundation challenges with a novel application of Micropile Foundations and later when the student co-op closed and he and his wife Laura purchased and renovated the Grand House to re-open as the student residence it is today.
Nadir enjoys real estate development, automotive art collection, culinary exploration, mental math, chess, reading and family travel. Recently Nadir and family took a year to travel to 24 countries.

Favourite Quote: Can we do it? Yes we can!

Meet our team

Nadir Ansari

Owner

Tammany Atkinson

House Support

Chantal Cornu

Designer & Founder

Let’s Talk

Get in touch and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. We look forward to hearing from you!