$117M Confederation Park Community Centre planned for North Burnaby

$117 million Confederation Park Community Centre planned for North Burnaby (RENDERINGS)

Artistic rendering of the preliminary concept for Confederation Park Community Centre. (Revery Architecture/City of Burnaby)

An impressive, highly unconventional community centre design is being considered for Confederation Park in the Capitol Hill neighbourhood of North Burnaby.

The City of Burnaby is currently in the process of seeking public input on its design for Confederation Park Community Centre, which will be located at the northeast corner of the intersection of Willingdon Avenue and Albert Street, just north of Hastings Street.

You might also like:

The facility will replace the existing 1971-built, undersized Confederation Community Centre for Seniors, and a surface parking lot.

Designed by Revery Architecture (previously known as Bing Thom Architects), this will be a new three-storey building, with a pair of arc-shaped two-storey volumes separated by a site-wide pedestrian promenade — all sitting above a large first floor.

A glass-enclosed pedestrian bridge, hovering above the promenade, links the arcs together from the third floor.

The pedestrian promenade begins from a large plaza at the intersection, before rising to the second level and cutting diagonally through the building to reach the existing athletics track, soccer field, and the rest of the 100-acre public park. The plaza and promenade combined effectively provide a new grand entrance into the park.

Confederation Park Community Centre Burnaby

Artistic rendering of the preliminary concept for Confederation Park Community Centre. (Revery Architecture/City of Burnaby)

The new community centre will include a gymnasium fitness centre with weights and cardio equipment, a dedicated seniors’ facility with a snooker room, a childcare facility, a childminding facility (a short-term childcare facility while parents exercise), multipurpose and meeting rooms, and a cafe.

The adjacent 2001-built Burnaby Public Library McGill Branch and 1992-built Eileen Dailly Leisure Pool and Fitness Centre will be retained and integrated with the new community centre complex.

Artistic rendering of the preliminary concept for Confederation Park Community Centre. (Revery Architecture/City of Burnaby)

In addition to the new community centre, the project calls for a new outdoor covered sports box next to the children’s spray park, near the existing open-air sports box.

The roof of the new additional box enables all-weather use and lighting. Other features entail a multi-use floor surface, storage, washrooms, and spectator seating.

Artistic rendering of the covered outdoor sports box for Confederation Park. (City of Burnaby)

Artistic rendering of the preliminary concept for Confederation Park Community Centre. (Revery Architecture/City of Burnaby)

The municipal government has set aside $117 million in its 2026-2026 capital budget for the new Confederation Park Community Centre. In February 2022, it approved a $10.8 million contract with Revery Architecture to be the lead design firm for the project.

An online survey is open through July 12, 2022, on the preliminary design of the new facility. The gathered public feedback will be used to create the detailed design later this year.

If all goes as planned, construction could begin in 2023.

Artistic rendering of the preliminary concept for Confederation Park Community Centre. (Revery Architecture/City of Burnaby)

Confederation Park Community Centre is one of two new community and recreational centres planned by the municipal government for the North Burnaby area.

The City is also planning to build a $140-million urban community centre serving Brentwood Town Centre, fully integrated with Grosvenor’s major mixed-use redevelopment next to SkyTrain Brentwood Town Centre Station.

Altogether, the municipal government is planning to spend almost 33% or $504 million of its 2022-2026 capital plan budget on building five new major community and recreational facilities to serve its growing population, including new facilities for Lougheed Town Centre (replacing Cameron Community Centre) and Burnaby Lake Sports Complex (replacing CG Brown Memorial Pool and Burnaby Lake Arena).

A significant portion of the construction costs for these community centre projects will be funded by the City’s cash community amenity contributions (CACs) collected from developers in exchange for added market density, with the City setting aside about $435 million from developers over the five-year capital plan towards the projects.

Artistic rendering of the preliminary concept for Confederation Park Community Centre. (Revery Architecture/City of Burnaby)

You might also like: