A rendering of what the new residence building at UNB Saint John will look like. (Submitted/UNB Saint John)
Students at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John will soon have more options for living on campus.
Construction has started on a new $10-million residence building with 104 beds.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the 40,000 sq. ft. facility was held last week.
“Being excited is an understatement,” said Dr. Petra Hauf, vice-president of the Saint John campus.
The campus currently has two residences — Sir James Dunn and Dr. Colin B. Mackay — with around 240 beds.
“These residences have been at full capacity the last five years and we have students every year on the waitlist, clearly identifying that there is a demand for more space to live on campus,” Hauf said.
The waitlist ranges from 20 to 100 students in any given year, she said.
Hauf said the new residence, yet to be named, combines the benefits of both existing buildings.
“It has private rooms with a shared washroom … only two people that live next door to each other are sharing this one bathroom,” she said.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the new residence building at UNB Saint John took place on Nov. 8, 2019. (Jeff Crawford Photo/UNB Media Services)
The new building will also be the first geothermal heated and cooled residence at UNB, which Hauf said will make it very energy efficient.
“It’s exciting for the campus here to see visually now the growth agenda we have,” she said.
“We want to have more students living on campus, we want to have a stronger and diverse community here on campus, we want to provide students with accommodations here so that they can live and learn in the same area.”
Don Darling, the mayor of Saint John, said the university is a critical component to the region’s growth agenda.
“The expansion of our beautiful campus means more services available to students and increases our ability to retain graduates,” said Darling in a news release.
Patrick Hickey, president of the Students’ Representative Council, also applauded the new development.
“The SRC, and all students at UNB Saint John, are very excited to see this new development on campus, another sign of the growth of our campus,” said Hickey in the news release.
The building is expected to be ready to welcome students by September 2020.
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