The first wooden columns and beams for the five-level west wing of the complex were fixed into position this week, as foundation work continued.
Polytechnic campus project manager Tracey Howell said the project was "running on time and on budget".
A great deal of work had been done on the foundations and 700 stone columns were drilled into the soil before the foundation slab could be poured at the Union St site, near the main polytechnic buildings, she said.
Naylor Love operations manager Jason Tutty said this was the first time that specialised wooden materials, termed laminated timber, were being used to create a multi-level building in Dunedin.This would also be the largest laminated wood building, by volume, in the country and also the tallest of its kind.
No concrete will be used above ground.
Laminated timber consists of wood glued together in layers, and these materials are, by volume, only 20% of the weight of concrete.
The timber products used for this project are made of New Zealand-grown pine and are all prefabricated in Nelson to exact specifications.
The precisely made-to-order sections will be assembled like a kitset in Dunedin. No cutting or drilling of the materials is required on site.
The west wing’s main structure would be completed by the end of March, and the village’s second wing — four storeys high — would reach that level of development at the end of May, he said.
The student accommodation village will have 231 beds and is the first student residential complex fully owned by Otago Polytechnic. The project will be finished before the end of January next year.