Construction is underway on Vancouver Island University's new 10-storey student housing building, which is anticipated to be completed by 2027.

Located on the 900 Fifth St. campus in Nanaimo, housing will provide 266 student beds with shared lounges, washrooms and kitchens on each residential floor. It will also feature a 200-seat dining hall, study rooms, a multi-purpose room, bike storage, shared laundry and office spaces for staff. Seven units will be made accessible.

The complex is being built with up to $103-million from the province, at Step 4 of the B.C. Energy Step Code and meeting CleanBC's energy-efficiency requirements for new buildings, which is part of the government's plan to lower climate-changing emissions by 40 per cent by 2030.

In a press release, Anne Kang, Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills said that she has heard from students about the priority for secure and affordable housing.

"Adding additional student beds and amenities at VIU Nanaimo means that more students can make campus their home and get the most out of their post-secondary experience," Kang said. "This project is part of our government's commitment to build 12,000 student housing units, with more than 10,760 student beds already built, or underway."

According to the release, the campus is connected to a geo-exchange system, which circulates water from abandoned Wakesiah coal mine, underneath VIU campus. The new building will connect to an expansion of the system, which is anticipated to "significantly reduce its carbon footprint by decreasing output for heating and cooling several VIU buildings to near zero." In addition, it will be built so that it could connect the rest of the student housing buildings in the future.