Cost & Financial Control
Eighty-five million dollars have been allocated across nine categories, with fifteen million held in reserve.
01 — Allocation
The contingency reserve is tied to modular system upgrades on a 36-month cycle. This is because high end computing hardware depreciates fast and will need to be replaced.
$100,000,000
Total federal infrastructure grant, in Canadian dollars.
| Category | Relative size | Budget | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building construction & site development | $22.00M | 22.0% | |
| HPC / GPU / computing infrastructure | $17.00M | 17.0% | |
| Land acquisition: 28310 Huntingdon Rd (151.31 acres) | $16.85M | 16.85% | |
| Research laboratories & specialized equipment | $10.00M | 10.0% | |
| Makerspace, robotics & prototyping | $6.00M | 6.0% | |
| Research & student innovation fund | $4.00M | 4.0% | |
| Employee & training | $3.15M | 3.15% | |
| Sustainability, power & cooling infrastructure | $3.00M | 3.0% | |
| Architecture, engineering & project management | $3.00M | 3.0% | |
| Planned project expenditure | $85.00M | 85.0% | |
| Contingency reserve | $15.00M | 15.0% | |
| Total budget | $100.00M | 100% |
02 — Cost Justification
Five categories account for $68.85M of the $85M planned, plus the $15m Contingency reserve accounts for 83.85% of project budget.
$22M
According to Precedent Developments' 2026 Canadian Construction Costing Guide [4], university teaching buildings in Vancouver are estimated at approximately $750-$1,250 per square foot but no info regarding Abbotsford. Hence this source provides a basis for preliminary planning and the final cost will depend on the facility's size, design, and site requirements.
Source: Altus Group, 2026 Canadian Construction Costing Guide (reference 4).$17M
According to Exxact [6] Corporation (2025), NVIDIA H200 NVL GPUs cost over US$25,000 each, while an eight GPU server can cost more than US$200,000. These figures demonstrate the significant investment required to establish AI computing capabilities and support our proposed budget allocation.
Source: Exxact Corporation (2025) (reference 6).$16.85M
For land acquisition, Group 8 proposes purchasing the property located at 28310 Huntingdon Road, Abbotsford, BC V4X 1A3.
The property consists of two parcels totaling approximately 151.31 acres with the asking price of $16.85 million CAD (This is more than double the size of current UFV Abbotsford campus). Located approximately a 15 minute drive from UFV, this land offers more than enough space for the proposed AI research and innovation facility.
Source: Fraser Valley MLS listing.$10M
The University of Toronto's Guide to Construction [5] distinguishes building construction from equipment and other project expenses. This supports our approach of budgeting laboratory equipment separately from construction costs.
Source: University of Toronto, A Practical Guide to Addressing Construction & Renovation (2024) (reference 5).$3M
An eight GPU H200 server can draw approximately 5-7 kW, making substantial electricity and heat management requirements for AI computing. This supports the need to budget for appropriate electrical capacity and efficient cooling systems.
Source: Exxact Corporation (2025) (reference 6).$15M
Held back rather than allocated, and tied directly to the cost of modular systems. It is drawn on for upgrades at a frequency of roughly 36 months, which is the practical response to rapid hardware obsolescence on a project that will not open its doors until 2030.
See risk R-03, rapid hardware obsolescence.