So you already live at UTown@UBC? Lucky you!
Living at UTown@UBC is certainly an experience like no other; the stunning beauty of the Point Grey area and access to world-class recreational and cultural facilities make this a unique and exciting place to call home.
But UTown@UBC is much more than just a beautiful place to live; it's a sustainable and vibrant community, where a diverse group of residents — students, staff, faculty and others — live, work and learn together. UTown@UBC also supports UBC's larger social, ecological and economic sustainability goals.
Ecological Sustainability
UBC has its own green building rating system called REAP (Residential Environmental Assessment Program), which guides all residential construction on campus.
- Community Energy Planning: The Save-on-Foods in Wesbrook Place adapts waste heat and generates hot water for Granite Terrace, the apartments above, with the YU residential development plants to do the same with waste heat produced by TRIUMF.
- Water and waste action plans are being developed for UTown@UBC as well as the institutional parts of campus. Wesbrook Place has experimented with innovative stormwater management; water flows on the surface through green streets and creates a small lake, which feeds into the aquifier and is then pumped to the surface for summer irrigation, turning it from waste into a resource.
- UBC and BC Hydro are currenctly evaluating the feasability of implementing a District Energy system for residential and mixed-use neighbourhood developments, which would reduce greenhouse gases.
- UTown@UBC is home to Greater Vancouver's first residential compost program for multi-families; this was done in partnership with the UNA and reaches more than 1,200 homes in 19 multi-family buildings. In 2010, more than 60,000kg of organics were turned into compost, processed in UBC's in-vessel composter to create nutritive soil that is used for UBC landscaping and community gardens.
Social Sustainability
UTown@UBC is proud to support social sustainability by:
- Providing a range of affordable, suitable housing;
- Providing a range of healthy, engaging programs and services in partnership with the UNA (similar to what one might expect from a municipality);
- Fostering social cohesion and community connections by bringing together residents to participate in community events, and to leverage their interests and talents to build community through programs such as our UTown@UBC Community Grant program;
- Enhancing neighbourhoods by supporting the development of safe, healthy spaces, walkable neighbourhoods, parks and greenspaces and more;
- Providing opportunities for community engagement.
Economic Sustainability
Development at UTown@UBC helps financially support the UBC Endowment. For more information, see The UBC Endowment.