An eight-storey student-housing building with 385 beds has opened at the University of Victoria (UVic), offering more living arrangements in a city with one of the lowest rental vacancy rates in the province.
Once a second building comes to fruition next summer, another 385 beds will boost on-campus housing by 25 per cent. The $229.2-million project received $127.9 million in provincial funding.
Anne Kang, minister of advanced education and skills training, said only 130 beds were built between 2001 and 2016. “The outcome was many students were pushed into local rental markets in communities like Victoria,” she stated. “Our government is making different choices, working with colleges and universities to build 8,000 student housing beds across B.C. to make post-secondary education more affordable for students and provide relief for local renters.”
A passive plan
Both buildings have been designed and constructed to achieve Passive House and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) V4 Gold certification
At the newest building, in the Cove Dining Hall, an electrified commercial kitchen will be the first passive house kitchen of its scale worldwide. The hall itself is projected to consume an average of 87 per cent less energy than other industrial kitchens of a similar size.
Both student-housing buildings will be constructed using natural products, including stone and wood, keeping in mind the province’s CleanBC plan. Wood is incorporated into the building designs through mass-timber structural elements in the first building and wood finishes in the second building. Mass timber is engineered for strength by fastening together layers of smaller-dimension wood with glue, dowels or nails. Mass timber is said to match or exceed the structural performance of concrete and steel while reducing carbon emissions by as much as 45 per cent.
UVic was the second post-secondary institution to access the BC Student Housing Loan Program, a $450-million initiative launched in 2018 to make housing more affordable and available for students. The program gives a new housing funding tool to post-secondary institutions to borrow directly from the Province to help finance new on-campus student-housing units, which was not permitted before 2017.
“Having on-campus housing eases stress and allows students like me to fully enjoy and immerse themselves in the post-secondary experience,” said Izzy Adachi, political science student and board director, University of Victoria Students’ Society. “Students need a secure, safe space to call home, so they can focus on their studies without worry or distraction.”
