Students attending the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in the coming years will have access to hundreds of new, environmentally friendly on-campus housing beds.
The new student housing project, valued at nearly $115 million, was announced September 17, with government investing $108.8 million and BCIT contributing $6 million towards this project.
The project will see the construction of a 464-bed, 12-storey student housing project at BCIT’s Burnaby campus. The project will be designed to reflect Indigenous culture in the region, and to support Indigenous learners by providing community spaces on the ground floor.
The new building will be constructed using mass timber, a sustainable product that is cost effective, quicker to build and has a lower carbon footprint compared to traditional concrete construction. B.C. is a leader in the use of mass timber as an innovative way to reduce the carbon footprint of the building sector.
The project will be the first investment in new student housing beds at BCIT in 38 years.