$126-million SFU Surrey campus expansion reaches completion (PHOTOS)

$126-million SFU Surrey campus expansion designed by Bing Thom reaches completion (PHOTOS)

SFU Surrey's new Sustainable Energy Engineering building. (SFU)

Simon Fraser University has opened the largest expansion its satellite Surrey campus has ever seen, since it was established nearly a decade and a half ago.

Named the SFU Sustainable Energy Engineering building, the 220,000-sq-ft, five-storey building is dedicated to students enrolled in the university’s new sustainable energy engineering degree programs, which offers an interdisciplinary approach to energy engineering by integrating science, environmental, and business courses.

This new approach is intended to prepare students to work in clean technology sectors, such as smart cities, clean power generation, and sustainable food and water solutions.

There is sufficient space in the new building for 440 new full-time equivalent students and 40 faculty and staff.

As well, the new building provides a new and improved home for 75 graduate mechatronics students.

SFU Surrey’s new Sustainable Energy Engineering building. (SFU)

The building was one of the final designs by Bing Thom, an internationally-celebrated Vancouver architect who suddenly passed away in 2016. Thom was also behind the design of the adjacent Central City complex and Surrey City Centre Public Library, and other prominent buildings in the region such as Guildford Aquatic Centre, UBC Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, Aberdeen Centre, and Westbank’s upcoming The Butterfly Tower.

Facilities within the new visually prominent building include modern wet and dry teaching labs, classrooms, study spaces, offices, and a 400-seat lecture hall. A large light-filled central atrium space brings together all of these spaces while providing students, faculty, and the public with a significant common area.

SFU Surrey’s new Sustainable Energy Engineering building. (SFU)

“Simon Fraser University is grateful for the significant support received from the federal and provincial governments for this much-needed Surrey campus expansion,” said Andrew Petter, president and vice-chancellor of SFU, in a statement.

“The new facility and program will enable SFU to generate the talent and research that BC and Canada require to be leaders in the development and application of clean technologies and sustainable energy solutions.”

The original SFU Surrey campus space within Central City spans 470,000-sq-ft of floor area, and there is a need for continued expansion due to student overcapacity. Future phases with a combined budget of $355 million will expand SFU Surrey’s presence in the city centre with a Science Health and Technology Building, a Business Management Building, and a Graduate Facility Building.

SFU Surrey’s new Sustainable Energy Engineering building. (SFU)

$126-million SFU Surrey campus expansion designed by Bing Thom reaches completion (PHOTOS)

See also

See also