$25-million federal funding for 1,600-seat concert hall at Langley Events Centre | Daily Hive

$25-million in federal funding for new 1,600-seat concert hall at Langley Events Centre

Highly preliminary concept of the new concert and performance hall at Langley Events Centre. (Township of Langley)

The Government of Canada recently formally announced that the Township of Langley is on the receiving end of $25 million in federal grant funding to help build a new, 1,600-seat concert and performance hall venue.

This will be achieved as a major expansion of Langley Events Centre.

“So many members of our community have long advocated for a concert and performance hall. We are incredibly grateful to the Government of Canada for this transformative investment in Langley’s future and helping to bring this vision to fruition,” said Langley Township Mayor Eric Woodward.

“This new space will be more than a venue for world-class arts and cultural events — it will be a community gathering place where our students can proudly cross the stage at high school graduations, and where residents of all ages can come together to celebrate creativity, achievement, and community spirit.”

You might also like:

Earlier in the fall, Township Council also approved a $1-million expense to begin the preliminary design and technical work for the project, with a final design and budget set to be considered in 2026.

To access the federal grant to cover a major portion of the project’s cost, the municipal government is required to begin construction by the end of 2026 or early 2027 at the very latest.

The federal funding is specifically coming from the federal Green and Inclusive Community Buildings program, which necessitates that the concert and performance hall be a net-zero design with a high standard of energy efficiency and climate resilience.

“Work is already underway to begin a progressive design build process to finalize the facility’s size, scope, components and budget needed for public input and Council’s future consideration,” continued Woodward.

Queen Elizabeth Theatre in downtown Vancouver. (Vancouver Civic Theatres)

According to Township Councillor Michael Pratt, such a facility has been envisioned long before the pandemic.

If Langley Events Centre’s concert and performance hall is designed as a traditional purpose-built, fixed-seat theatre (as opposed to a multi-purpose, flat-floor auditorium with retractable seating), it would be Metro Vancouver’s fourth largest such venue after the downtown Vancouver venues of Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Orpheum Theatre, and The Centre (which doubles as a church).

There have also been renewed efforts to explore building a brand-new purpose-built concert hall within or near downtown Vancouver with about 1,800 seats for opera and ballet, with an attached recital hall with approximately 800 or 900 seats. Vancouver City Council endorsed a not-for-profit organization for further exploration of such a project earlier in 2025.

The City of Langley is also contemplating building a concert and performance hall with roughly 500 seats.

The 2009-built Langley Events Centre already features a 5,600-seat main arena — the home ice of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants — as well as a 500-seat field house, 2,200-seat main gymnasium, and 1,000-seat secondary gymnasium.

The existing main arena at Langley Events Centre. (Centaur Products)

Construction is also now approaching the final stages on a $149-million expansion of the centre, adding five arenas in a unique stacked configuration to reduce the footprint required. This includes one ice arena with about 1,000 seats, two ice arenas each with about 200 seats, and two dry arenas on a second level directly above the pair of smaller ice arenas for sports such as ball hockey and lacrosse. Work on this expansion is expected to conclude in Summer 2026.

Just to the south of the centre is the 2023-built, 6,600-seat soccer-specific Willoughby Stadium, which was constructed in 2023 to serve as the home of the CPL’s Vancouver FC.

langley events centre expansion willoughby community park

Artistic rendering of the Langley Events Centre expansion with five more arenas. (Township of Langley)

You might also like: