Managing Construction on Campus

All construction projects must submit a Traffic Management Plan to Campus and Community Planning for approval before starting work to ensure that standards are met, public safety is maintained, impact to the community is minimized (particularly during peak operating hours of the campus), and advanced warning of impact and alternative routes (if needed) are provided to the public.  

Construction work hours on the Vancouver campus and in the neighbourhood housing areas are between 7:30am and 7pm, from Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm on Saturdays with no work occurring on Sundays. 

Occasionally, there is a need to extend these work hours. An example of this would be for large concrete pours, which take time to complete and must be completed in one day to meet requirements and ensure quality. In these instances, projects can apply for work hour variances to allow them to complete their work by their deadline. When a variance is issued, Campus and Community Planning sends a notification to those most impacted.  

Campus and Community Planning compliance officers perform regular inspections of construction sites on campus to ensure they are adhering to the approved traffic management and site and safety plans. During these site visits, compliance officers also look for opportunities to minimize disruption to the campus community and to make sites safer.  If a violation occurs at a construction site, a Compliance Officer issues a warning. When ongoing violations occur, penalties are increased, escalating to closure of the worksite.

Site safety plans generated by projects must meet multiple safe operating requirements and procedures including WorkSafe BC and the BC Building Code. UBC approves the overall Site Plan for a project, however ensuring the site is safe and that it is following these provincial standards are the responsibility of the contractor delivering the project.

For tower cranes, the boom of a tower crane can extend over roads, sidewalks, houses and other buildings, however, the operating area for the trolley and crane is limited to be over construction sites and clear work zones only. In the event there is overhead work required over a public space, like a roadway or sidewalk, that road or sidewalk must be closed to accommodate the lift.