*Please note, this image is a conceptual rendering only.
Project Overview
The new student housing tower is a 10-storey building that includes:
- 266 new student beds,
- a common area for students to study and gather,
- and a new dining hall for students living in campus housing.
The 9,547 m2 mass timber building will be built to LEED Gold and BC Energy Step Code 4 standards. It will be a certified Zero Carbon Building and Rick Hanson Foundation Accessibility Gold Certified. It will use the university’s mine water geo-exchange energy system for heating and cooling. The new housing will increase on-campus student accommodations by nearly 50%: from 536 beds to 802 beds. Amenities include a dining hall, teaching kitchen, study rooms, student lounges, Elder’s space, a multi-purpose room, bike storage, reception, mail room and laundry.
Benefits
- The new tower will help VIU address demand for on-campus housing. There are waitlists for current on-campus accommodations.
- On-campus housing positively impacts access to education by providing safe, comfortable, attractive and competitively priced options.
- The building includes universal design principles to ensure accessible options for students.
- A living-learning community creates more opportunities for students to learn from and support one another. This leads to higher levels of student satisfaction with their education and contributes to increased program completion.
- The tower establishes a new “front door” for the student housing area, increasing visibility and easy access to administration.
- 12 per cent of VIU’s Nanaimo campus student population self-identify as Indigenous. The new housing tower is just 350 meters from Shq’apthut, the campus’ Gathering Place, for access to cultural activities, Elders-in-Residence, programs and other support services.
Background
VIU has 536 beds of on-campus student housing. With demand for on-campus housing exceeding supply, the university has been exploring ways to add more on-campus housing options. In 2022, the provincial government announced funding for the new student housing tower.
*Please note, this image is a conceptual rendering only.
Schedule
Design work is 100 per cent complete as of August 2024. On-site work begins in September 2024. Move-in is scheduled for summer 2027.