The UBC sign at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, on April 23, 2019.Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press
The British Columbia government and the University of B.C. will partner to create housing for more than 1,500 students at the institution’s Vancouver campus, in the province’s largest ever student housing investment, Premier David Eby said Tuesday.
The estimated $560 million project will be funded with $300 million from the province and $260 million from UBC, he said at a news conference.
The 1,508-bed project will include five buildings ranging from eight to 18 storeys, 37 new child care spaces, academic and administrative offices and a 400-seat dining hall.
Construction is slated to start in the fall of 2026 with spaces opening for students in 2028.
The project will focus on providing homes for graduate students, the post-secondary education and future skills ministry said in a statement.
“It will help hundreds of students who are looking for housing every year,” said Eby. “This is the largest student housing development that has ever been funded by government in the history of the province of B.C.”
The project is part of the government’s target of building 12,000 student beds by 2028, he said.
UBC President Benoit-Antoine Bacon called the project “transformative.”
“This is huge,” he said. “This funding is the most significant provincial contribution to a single infrastructure project of any kind in UBC’s history.”
Bacon said the housing development’s benefits would spread beyond the campus, into Metro Vancouver and the province.
Eby said the UBC project was also part of his government’s plan to build more affordable housing across the province.