New interactive art museum building planned for Surrey Civic Plaza | Daily Hive

2026 concept of the new Interactive Art Museum building at Surrey Civic Plaza. (City of Surrey)

The City of Surrey is rebooting its plan to build a long-envisioned, purpose-built new Interactive Art Museum (IAM), and it has now selected a highly central location for the attraction.

During Surrey mayor Brenda Locke’s annual State of the City address today, she announced that the municipal government is going ahead with its plan to build the IAM and that it will be built at Surrey Civic Plaza in the core of Surrey City Centre.

“We’re also moving forward with an interactive art museum at Civic Plaza. That is a place where people can see art, make art, gather, learn, and experience culture in a way Surrey has never seen before. Big things are happening,” said Locke.

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A new conceptual artistic rendering shown during the address shows the IAM will be a brand-new, five-storey building constructed at the northeast corner of the plaza — at the southwest corner of the intersection of 104 Avenue and City Parkway.

The small City-owned vacant lot is framed by City Hall to the west and the 3 Civic Plaza tower and SkyTrain’s Surrey Central station to the south.

Site of the future Interactive Art Museum at Surrey Civic Plaza. (Google Maps)

Existing condition:

Site of the future Interactive Art Museum at Surrey Civic Plaza. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

iam interactive art museum surrey civic plaza

2026 concept of the new Interactive Art Museum building at Surrey Civic Plaza. (City of Surrey)

Few new updated details have been provided at this time. However, this has been a project in the works for quite a while.

In 2021, after years of preliminary planning, the City launched a bidding process seeking a development partner willing to build the IAM within a larger mixed-use development, with proponents required to offer a location within 400 metres of Surrey Central Station — a key requirement to help grow the emerging Surrey City Centre. At the time, the City had not established a precise location for the museum in this area.

The museum space would span 60,000 sq. ft. of total floor area, be located within a “highly visible” mixed-use building, and have a significant ground-level area with a visual presence that attracts attention on the street. It would contain exhibition halls, classrooms, labs, maker spaces, studios, an event theatre, media library, collections vault, shop, atrium, and a significant public gathering space, as well as potentially concession areas, a cafe or restaurant, and other commercial leasable spaces.

In return, the City would contribute up to $60 million to the cost of building the mixed-use development, with this approach selected at the time because of the possibility that it could accelerate the new museum’s implementation. The developer would not be responsible for any of the ongoing operations and maintenance costs of the museum.

However, this procurement process was later cancelled. Prior to that decision, the City was aiming to have the museum completed and opened in 2025. It would replace the existing Surrey Art Gallery in Bear Creek Park.

“The IAM Facility will be a leading institution for contemporary and interactive art in Canada, bringing together local creators with artists from around the world,” reads the 2021 procurement materials.

“The IAM Facility builds on Surrey Art Gallery’s almost 50 years as a Class A museum that is committed to education and exhibitions in contemporary art and which has won national awards and international recognition for its specialization in digital art. The IAM Facility will facilitate creativity, participation, and learning within a digital context, as well as other forms of media.”

Conversely, based on the new conceptual artistic rendering of the IAM at Surrey Civic Plaza, the municipal government now appears to be proceeding with a standalone museum building approach.

During her address today, Locke also shared a new conceptual artistic rendering of the first building of Surrey City Development Corporation’s (SCDC) Centre Block project redeveloping the former North Surrey Recreation Centre site immediately south of Surrey Civic Plaza. It shows a drastically revised architectural design concept for the new office/institutional building that will contain Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) new medical school.

Previous design for the SFU medical school building at Centre Block:

centre block sfu surrey 10261-10275 city parkway 2024

Cancelled design: 2024 revised concept for the Centre Block’s north parcels redevelopment. (Hariri Pontarini Architects/Adamson Architects/SCDC)

New design for the SFU medical school building at Centre Block:

sfu medical school surrey centre block concept

2026 revised concept of the SFU medical school building at the Centre Block site of Surrey City Centre. (Surrey City Development Corporation/SFU)

This 13-storey vertical campus building features stepped layers filled with outdoor terraces and greenery. The light-coloured exterior and large glass areas give it a clean, calm, and welcoming look, while the landscaped setbacks make the large structure feel more human-scaled and connected to nature, rather than like a typical bulky city tower.

Construction on this medical school building is expected to begin later in 2026, with completion and opening anticipated in 2030. The Government of British Columbia and SFU will cover the $520-million cost of the project.

A conceptual artistic rendering was also shown of the future South Westminster waterfront area on the Fraser River — directly below SkyTrain’s SkyBridge and the new Pattullo Bridge (stal̓əw̓asəm/Riverview Bridge), and across the river from Downtown New Westminster. Currently an area that sees heavy industrial uses, the rendering shows a vibrant area with a riverfront boardwalk, improved green spaces, and retail and restaurant uses.

south westminster fraser river waterfront surrey 2026

2026 highly preliminary concept of Surrey’s South Westminster Fraser River waterfront. (City of Surrey)

During today’s address, just months before the October 2026 civic election, Locke also announced her proposal to build a new 200,000 sq. ft. convention centre and major hotel on the Cloverdale Fairgrounds, and provided an update on the City’s plan to build a 10,000-seat indoor arena attached to an entertainment complex with a hotel on the City-owned site of the BC Lions training facility — just north of City Hall in Surrey City Centre.

She said a key announcement on the arena project could be made this summer, with the bid process seeking a developer, operator, and sports tenant winding down next week after attracting a “strong” market response.

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