A rendering of the new, secure bike park that will be built at VIU's Nanaimo Campus.
Members of VIU’s Campus Development team are on a continuous journey to improve the way VIU community members interact with the spaces they use to study and work. One of the keys to this is encouraging active transportation through good amenities that are easy for everyone to use. New showers and a new bike park show how this plan is taking shape in supporting sustainable activities while using Universal Design principles to ensure equity in amenity design.
These two amenities also support VIU’s recently announced position statement on climate action and sustainability.
“By making decisions about where we invest our dollars, we support our statements with actions,” explains Richard Lewis, Associate Vice-President of Facilities and Ancillary Services. “We recognize we are facing a human-caused climate crisis and we have a responsibility to everyone from our student and employee community all through our global community to ensure our development decisions promote sustainable actions. These were major drivers behind these two projects.”
In addition to demonstrating VIU’s climate action leadership, the projects were also requested through surveys asking what amenities would help students and employees consider modes of transportation besides vehicles.
“These projects were driven by community input. We always strive to meet the needs of our students and employees, and I think this is an example of one of the ways we have the opportunity to do that quite directly, as part of our regular capital improvement work,” says Drew Taylor, Director, Campus Development. “It is our hope that these improvements reflect what people envisioned and that it makes a difference in their daily lives on campus. These upgrades are also a great example of how through our ongoing capital improvements we can simultaneously work toward two of our major goals: one being to meet sustainability targets such as those outlined in the CleanBC Roadmap to 2030 plan, and the other being upgrading our buildings and amenities to Universal Design standards, so every body can go everywhere."
Universal Access Showers in the Library building
Three new washroom facilities complete with five private showers with change areas are now finished on the fourth floor of the Library building on the Nanaimo Campus (B305). Following the Rick Hansen Accessibility Guidelines and using Universal Access (UA) principles, the washrooms – one male, one female, one non-gendered are all Universally Accessible to Rick Hansen Guidelines, which is a first on the Nanaimo Campus, where most gendered washrooms are not fully accessible. They are also the first Universally Accessible washrooms to include showers, which brings together two central objectives in all Campus Development projects – sustainability and UA. The installation of the showers is a direct response from survey work Campus Development did to understand the needs of active commuters and what would encourage people to use alternative modes of active transportation.
“People asked for showers in the mid-campus – ones that were closer to where they spend time on campus, so they could conveniently get cleaned up as part of their routine,” explains project lead Mike Ross, Manager, Capital Projects. “These amenities will support active transportation and help people get to campus without having to use a vehicle, which will in turn not only help reduce our carbon footprint, but will also help promote health and wellness.”
There are two showers in each gendered washroom and one in the non-gendered washroom, which can be used by students and employees when they are in the Library, which has continuous access with a student or employee card.
A New Bike Park
To go along with the new showers is a fully secure bike park, which will be complete in spring 2023. Also located in the middle of the Nanaimo campus, the park is accessible with an employee or student card, is fully covered to protect bicycles and users from the elements, and has a large entry and exit door to accommodate one-way movement for almost all bicycle sizes. Built of steel frame construction, using a combination of metal & glazed walls for visibility & transparency, users can feel safe using the facility and know that their bicycle is secure.
“Users will still need to lock up their bike, of course. With security cameras, card-only access, and good lighting there are strong security measures in place,” says Kevin Winiski, Manager of Capital Projects, who is responsible for the project. “Feedback we got on the bike park outside the gym was that the doors are too small, so we have increased the size of the doors on this Park as much as possible. Access in and out while pushing a bike will be much easier.”
It also features a more pleasing aesthetic than its predecessor next to the gym.
“It will fit in with the buildings around it and has an attractive design with lots of natural light,” Kevin says.
He stresses that the site is only for bikes. Parking for e-scooters, scooters, and motorcycles is available in the designated spots. The park will be located outside the Health and Science Building (B210, see image) and will hold 30 to 35 bicycles. Construction is likely to commence in early 2023.
“Also on the project list to support more bike commuting to campus are bike lane improvements on Fourth Street,” Drew says. “We have been working with the City of Nanaimo to plan some upgrades that will make commuting a much safer and enjoyable experience coming up Fourth Street.”
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