Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to page-level navigation Go to the Disability Resource Centre Website Go to the DRC Booking Accommodation Portal Go to the Inclusive Technology Lab Website
The University of British Columbia
UBC - A Place of Mind
The University of British Columbia Okanagan campus
UBC Okanagan News
  • Research
  • People
    • Student Profile
    • Faculty Profile
    • Alumni Spotlight
  • Campus Life
    • Campus News
    • Student Life
    • Teaching & Learning
  • Community Engagement
  • About the Collection
    • Stories for Media
  • UBCO Events
  • Search All Stories
Home / 2011 / September / 08 / New buildings at UBC’s Okanagan campus ready for students

New buildings at UBC’s Okanagan campus ready for students

September 8, 2011

Classes, offices and living quarters incorporate sustainability features

With new labs, classrooms, more learning and living space, engineering and medical students coming to class at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus will get their education in some of the newest, state-of-the-art classrooms on any post-secondary campus.

The Engineering Management Education Building

The Engineering Management Education Building

The School of Engineering building (Engineering, Management and Education Complex) and the Purcell residence building both opened with return to classes this week, while the Health Sciences Centre will be ready for the first intake of 32 students in the Southern Medical Program early in the New Year.

The educational buildings incorporate the latest in high-tech teaching tools from lectures being delivered on huge screens from anywhere in the world to the newest energy-saving technologies.

The new structures use geothermal process to heat in the winter and cool in the summer, as do all of the academic buildings on campus.

The Health Sciences Centre

The Health Sciences Centre

“Our students will benefit from some of the greenest construction and building features that are available,” says Jackie Podger, associate vice president of finance and administration at UBC’s Okanagan campus. “Our new buildings have greater water and heating efficiency and design innovations that incorporate sustainable best practices and green procurement strategies.”

At 186,000 square feet, the $68-million engineering facility is one of the largest projects undertaken as part of the campus master plan. Besides housing the School of Engineering, the complex also plays homes to the Faculties of Education and Management.

Along with a geothermal system, the building also features a glass atrium to provide space for students, faculty and staff from all three programs to socialize, study, and interact. A green roof and low-flow fixtures will provide 40 per cent savings over conventional systems. Multipurpose classrooms, project rooms and laboratory facilities are designed to bring students together through cross-disciplinary learning opportunities.

The Purcell residence

The Purcell residence

The Health Sciences Centre is a $31-million, 47,000-square-foot building that includes high-tech classrooms and lecture theatres, small-group teaching rooms, research and teaching laboratories, administration and faculty offices and linkages to campus infrastructure. Numerous measures in heating, cooling, exhaust air heat recovery, heat pumps and fans are expected to result in use of 49 per cent less energy than a conventional building.

One of the unique features of the building is the distance-learning technology which includes a massive screen –14 metres across – that can display up to four video feeds at the same time. This allows for live lectures from other centres to be shown from anywhere around the world, and include multiple subjects. Students can participate in Faculty of Medicine lectures in Vancouver, Victoria and Prince George through push-to-talk microphones and camera technology.

Students have also moved into the new $14.9-million Purcell Residence, with 212 beds. This brings the total number of beds on campus to 1,648 to meet the needs of out-of-town students. The Purcell also features a green roof, solar heating panels, occupancy and window sensors and heat-recovery ventilators. The building performance has been estimated to be 48.7 per cent better than a similar building built to the minimum levels of the Model National Energy Code.

Additionally, storm water is collected and discharged into an onsite retention pond, where the water is treated through natural measures and emptied only through evaporation.

— 30 —

Media Contact

Darren Handschuh
Assistant Communications Coordinator
University Relations

The University of British Columbia
Okanagan campus
Tel: 250-807-8463
E-mail: darren.handschuh@ubc.ca

Content type: Media Release
More content from: Uncategorized

Trending Stories

  • UBCO Downtown
  • Bold new plans unveiled for UBCO Downtown
  • UBCO celebrates the graduates of 2022
  • Gold-medal tennis player, human rights activist win UBCO honours
  • UBCO researchers change the game when it comes to ...
All Stories
Contact Media Relations

About UBC Okanagan

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose traditional, ancestral and unceded territory the campus resides. The most established and influential global rankings all consistently place UBC in the top five per cent of universities in the world, and among the top three Canadian universities.

The Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. For more visit ok.ubc.ca.

Discover more about UBC Okanagan

Find a Program Admissions Book a Tour UBCO Facts
UBC Okanagan Campus News, University Relations

Innovation Precinct Annexation 1 (IA1)
3505 Spectrum Court
Kelowna, BC Canada V1V 2Z1

We respectfully acknowledge the Syilx Okanagan Nation and their peoples, in whose traditional, ancestral, unceded territory UBC Okanagan is situated.

 

Search all stories

Subscribe to receive news by email

Visit UBC's Vancouver news room

Global and Admin Messages

News

Okanagan Campus

UBC Okanagan News
Okanagan Campus
3333 University Way
Kelowna, BC Canada V1V 1V7
Find us on
  
Back to top
The University of British Columbia
  • Emergency Procedures |
  • Terms of Use |
  • Copyright |
  • Accessibility