The University of British Columbia’s (UBC) new Brock Commons North student residence building has officially opened, providing 316 additional beds for students.

The 18-storey, $59 million building is part of the Brock Commons residence area, which includes Tallwood House (completed in 2017 with 404 beds). The area will finish construction in spring 2024 with the completion of Brock South (282 beds). Total construction costs for the North and South residence buildings are $165 million.

North features study rooms, a fitness room, games room, and music rooms as well as social spaces. The ground floor also includes legal clinic space for the Peter A. Allard School of Law and a student collegia space. Floors 3-18 are residential with 63 four-bedroom suites and 64 studio units, all furnished and all with kitchen appliances

“We’re excited to welcome student residents to North, and give more students the opportunity to live on campus,” said Andrew Parr, associate vice-president of UBC Student Housing and Community Services. “We know the Vancouver rental market presents affordability and access challenges for some students. Being able to provide below market rate housing for students is a key goal for the university.”

UBC has invested $670 million in the last 12 years to build 5,550 new student residence beds on the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses. UBC is the largest university provider of student housing in Canada with 15,325 beds on its two campuses (13,205 in Vancouver and 2,120 at UBC Okanagan).

“The investment is significant, but so are the benefits and demand for more spaces,” noted Parr.

Demand is growing every year. In 2010, when UBC began its student residence growth plan, the summer waitlist peaked at 3,200 students. Before COVID, that waitlist grew to more than 6,000 students and by the summer peak in 2022, there were more than 8,000 students looking for a unit on campus that the university could not accommodate.