New UBC rental housing building for staff features rooftop solar panels

Sep 12 2022, 6:23 pm

Just in time for the new school year, the University of British Columbia (UBC) has completed a new purpose-built rental housing building dedicated to faculty and staff at its Vancouver campus.

Evolve, a six-storey building at 3515 Wesbrook Mall on lot BCR8 in UBC’s south campus’ Wesbrook Village, contains a total of 110 rental homes for employees of the university.

With a highly competitive and expensive housing market, on-campus rental housing projects are not only necessary for students — in the form of student residences — but also for employees, to enable UBC to retain and attract staff and high-calibre global talent for faculty.

Tenants moved into Evolve’s homes last month and there is now a waitlist for prospective residents. Monthly rents for Evolve are set at $1,545 for a studio, $1,740 to $1,980 for a one-bedroom unit, $2,835 for a two-bedroom unit, $3,070 for a three-bedroom unit, and $3,525 for a four-bedroom unit.

Over the next few years, Evolve will be followed by additional new rental housing buildings for faculty and staff nearby, including 144 units from Evoke at lot BCR9, and 294 below-market rental units or more than half of the units for the development of lot BCR6.

All of these projects combined will push the UBC Vancouver campus to contain over 1,000 on-campus rental homes dedicated to full-time faculty and staff at below-market rents, and over 1,000 market rental homes for faculty, staff, and the general public at market rents.

Evolve UBC Rental Housing 3515 Wesbrook Mall

UBC’s Evolve rental housing building for faculty and staff at 3515 Wesbrook Mall. Construction progress in May 2022. (Google Maps)

Evolve UBC Rental Housing 3515 Wesbrook Mall

UBC’s Evolve rental housing building for faculty and staff at 3515 Wesbrook Mall. (UBC)

Evolve UBC Rental Housing 3515 Wesbrook Mall

UBC’s Evolve rental housing building for faculty and staff at 3515 Wesbrook Mall. (Village Gate Homes)

The newly completed Evolve building, however, is also a standout for its green building design.

According to the university, it is one of Canada’s largest residential buildings with a Passive House design, with a high degree of green building features to be used by UBC researchers for monitoring performance and further studying best practices.

It is deemed as a “first-of-its-kind” building for the campus. UBC received $3.5 million from the federal government’s Natural Resources Canada for the development of the project.

Evolve was designed by ZGF Architects and built by Peak Construction Group for UBC Properties Trust.

“This is a rarity in Canadian urban development – to have similar-sized mid-rise comparator buildings, constructed by the same developers, on the same grounds, with the same property manager, similar tenancy profiles, and the same investment in research infrastructure,” said Adam Rysanek, assistant professor of environmental systems at UBC’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, in a statement.

“This is an incredible chance for us to evaluate the benefits and potential trade-offs between Passive House and typical construction in terms of tenant experience, costs, and building systems data concerning air quality, noise, extreme heat tolerance, energy consumption, and carbon emissions.”

Evolve UBC Rental Housing 3515 Wesbrook Mall

UBC’s Evolve rental housing building for faculty and staff at 3515 Wesbrook Mall. (UBC)

Evolve UBC Rental Housing 3515 Wesbrook Mall

UBC’s Evolve rental housing building for faculty and staff at 3515 Wesbrook Mall. (UBC)

Evolve UBC Rental Housing 3515 Wesbrook Mall

UBC’s Evolve rental housing building for faculty and staff at 3515 Wesbrook Mall. (Village Gate Homes)

The Passive House features include high-performance windows with openings that also significantly enable natural air to flow in, a high-efficiency heat recovery ventilation system, superior thermal insulation, a seamless building “envelope” exterior to eliminate cold patches and drafts, ventilation air provided from mixed-mode cooling, and exterior sun shading.

Additionally, Evolve’s rooftop is covered with solar panel arrays that produce enough electricity to power the building’s common areas.

“Residents will understand the savings Passive House living offers when their utility bill arrives. Passive House buildings use a fraction of the energy required for heating and cooling energy in comparison to conventional buildings,” said Rob Brown, vice-president and COO of UBC Properties Trust, in a statement.

Evolve UBC Rental Housing 3515 Wesbrook Mall

UBC’s Evolve rental housing building for faculty and staff at 3515 Wesbrook Mall. (Village Gate Homes)

Evolve UBC Rental Housing 3515 Wesbrook Mall

UBC’s Evolve rental housing building for faculty and staff at 3515 Wesbrook Mall. (Village Gate Homes)

Evolve UBC Rental Housing 3515 Wesbrook Mall

UBC’s Evolve rental housing building for faculty and staff at 3515 Wesbrook Mall. (Village Gate Homes)

Evolve UBC Rental Housing 3515 Wesbrook Mall

UBC’s Evolve rental housing building for faculty and staff at 3515 Wesbrook Mall. (Village Gate Homes)

Evolve UBC Rental Housing 3515 Wesbrook Mall

UBC’s Evolve rental housing building for faculty and staff at 3515 Wesbrook Mall. (Village Gate Homes)

Evolve UBC Rental Housing 3515 Wesbrook Mall

UBC’s Evolve rental housing building for faculty and staff at 3515 Wesbrook Mall. (Village Gate Homes)

Evolve UBC Rental Housing 3515 Wesbrook Mall

UBC’s Evolve rental housing building for faculty and staff at 3515 Wesbrook Mall. (Village Gate Homes)

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