Community

Jonathan Tinney points out progress at UniverCity.

Development picks up at UniverCity

March 11, 2010

Spring has sprung early on Burnaby Mountain and so has development activity in SFU’s UniverCity residential community.

The January opening of Nesters Market in the Hub building on University High Street ushered in one-stop shopping for UniverCity residents and the campus community.

In the adjacent Cornerstone building, Dollar Store & More has taken over the space Nesters occupied while its new digs were built, and Club Ilia—a new restaurant/lounge overlooking Town Square—is up and running.

Also rapidly taking shape in the renovated East Academic Annex building is a 275-student elementary school set to open next fall. The building is the first renovation of any school in B.C. built to a LEED Gold (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification level.

And two new mid-rise residential buildings are set to begin construction soon on University High Street east of Tower Road, directly opposite the elementary school.

The four-storey wood-framed buildings will take about 18 months to complete, says Jonathan Tinney, director of community development for SFU Community Trust, the organization that manages the development of UniverCity.

The buildings will feature a range of residence sizes and configurations including a significant number appealing to families with children.

"That’s very appropriate," says Tinney, "considering they will be right across from the school, which will help us to continue developing as a family oriented community."

Tinney is also excited about the über-green, 50-student childcare facility for three- to five-year-olds going up this spring at the corner of Highland Court and Tower Road.

The building, which will take 12–18 months to complete, will be built to a performance-based environmental certification that exceeds the current LEED rating system, known as the Living Building Challenge (LBC).

Among other things, Living Buildings are required to be net-zero consumers of water and energy and must be constructed of locally acquired materials containing no harmful chemicals.

"The idea," says Tinney, "is that the building will have as little impact on the Earth as we can possibly make it."

Once complete, he adds, UniverCity’s new childcare facility will be one of the most sustainable buildings in the world and one of the first Living Buildings certified in Canada.

For more information visit: www.univercity.ca. By Stuart Colcleugh