Construction is currently underway for a second housing complex on the Abbotsford campus. The new structure is scheduled to open next year, and will be a six-story wood frame building located on the existing Lot 10 parking site, across from Lá:lem te Baker, UFV’s current on-campus residence. According to UFV’s website, in addition to the 398 beds the project will add, the first floor will be home to “mixed-use amenity spaces, including a student lounge, shared kitchens, study spaces, student programming space, a retail unit with a food vendor, and a cultural space.”
“It’s a struggle to find affordable housing in B.C.,” said Lily Chan, director of Capital Projects, an arm of UFV’s Campus Planning and Facilities Management (CPFM). Chan said that the university understands that a lack of housing in Abbotsford was negatively affecting students, and that the project was inspired by “the necessity to provide affordable housing.” Chan explained that UFV is committed to supporting both local and international students, and hopes that the new development will help create a stronger campus culture.
“I think that having more students on campus provides opportunity for community, and the ability for amenity spaces supported by a larger population of students to exist. There’s kind of a critical mass that is required to support certain amenities.” Chan noted that the construction of both the new housing development and expanded dining hall was not a coincidence. “The student housing supports the dining hall expansion,” said Chan, and “the dining hall expansion is supporting student housing. The campus as a whole benefits from that.”
“I think it’ll make the campus a little more — I would say livable. You see a lot of this happening in UBC and SFU where campuses are becoming little villages. You can’t do that with one building, so by bringing more students on to campus it allows for that to happen.”
The project is a large undertaking that utilizes a model called integrated project delivery. “The university is in some ways among the pioneering groups who are trying this,” said Chan. “Integrated project delivery is fairly new for Canada, but… what that does is it allows the consultants and builders and owners to work together as a team to build buildings more efficiently and faster. So some of the things that we’ve been able to work through to-date is actually — in the time frame that we were able to do that — has been very impressive.
The new residences have been designed with sustainability in mind, and the building is expected to achieve LEED gold certification. Architects are currently working on plans to expand student housing in Chilliwack as well. “The addition of the resident student population will go a long way to creating the vibrant residential community on campus we hope to support,” said Chan. If all goes to plan, the new housing is slated to see its first residents for the Fall 2025 semester.
Veronica is a Staff Writer at The Cascade. She loves to travel and explore new places, no
matter how big or small. She is in her second year at UFV, pursuing the study of Creative
Writing.
