The University College of the Fraser Valley has received approval for the next phase of the UCFV Chilliwack campus. The new three-storey building will house a library, classrooms and labs, and administration and faculty offices, and will be ready for occupancy in late fall, 2002.

Funding for the building was announced last spring, and was recently approved by the provincial Treasury Board, the last stop of approval for all major public building projects. UCFV will receive $11.9 million for the new building.

"This announcement is great news for the Chilliwack campus and the entire Chilliwack community," said UCFV president Skip Bassford. "It marks the completion of a three-phase plan over the past 10 years, which included the construction of the Health Sciences centre and the Multipurpose/Theatre complex. Construction of this new building will provide the kind of modern facility that UCFV needs to continue to provide a wide range of quality post-secondary education opportunities on the Chilliwack campus."

The new 6,400 m2 building will be designed to complement the Multipurpose/Theatre complex, which opened in 1995. The new complex will replace the activity in the "old motel" (Building A), which was erected in 1975 and intended to be used as a college facility for five years until a permanent Chilliwack campus was built.

The new building's location, northwest of the current Student Services area (Building E) will draw a number of campus activities closer together. It will be elevated approximately eight feet to conform with municipal flood proofing by-laws.

The new building was originally scheduled to begin construction in 1994, and spent several years "on hold" awaiting funding approval. UCFV Facilities director Carol Hardy expects to go to tender in late summer/early fall, and says that construction will take 16 months.

The architects for the new UCFV building are Howard, Bingham and Hill, who also designed the Multi- purpose/Theatre complex on the Chilliwack campus.