{"id":948971,"date":"2026-10-28T04:38:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T04:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/948971\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T04:38:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T04:38:21","slug":"how-a-new-medical-school-in-surrey-b-c-could-transform-its-downtown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/948971\/","title":{"rendered":"How a new medical school in Surrey, B.C. could transform its downtown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Simon Fraser University\u2019s Stephens Family School of Medicine will soon open at Centre Block, a new purpose-built, mixed-use development in Surrey, B.C. Once complete, the school is expected to occupy seven floors of the 12-storey building.Supplied\/Stantec and Revery Architecture<\/p>\n

Simon Fraser University in Surrey, B.C., will soon welcome its first class of future primary-care doctors at its new medical school in the city\u2019s Central Business District. <\/p>\n

Amid a countrywide doctor shortage, the SFU Stephens Family School of Medicine will do double duty: It will educate future physicians, while its new building will better integrate amenities in a growing city. <\/p>\n

\u201c[The development] brings higher education, health care, research, office and retail space together on one site next to Surrey Central Station,\u201d says Bill Aujla, president and chief executive of the Surrey City Development Corp., a real estate development company. \u201cThat mix is what turns a city centre into a true downtown.\u201d <\/p>\n

Centre Block, a massive two-phased master plan for municipal land adjacent to the city\u2019s Central SkyTrain Station and the former site of a now-demolished recreation centre, supports Surrey\u2019s long-term vision for economic growth, innovation and education. <\/p>\n

The development is expected to add roughly two million square feet of office and retail space. It\u2019s also one of several infrastructure projects<\/a> <\/a>under way to meet the demands of the rising population of Surrey, one of Canada\u2019s fastest-growing<\/a> major cities. <\/p>\n

Other continuing developments include the Newton Community Centre and a new 10,000-seat City Centre Arena as Surrey posts population growth<\/a> averaging 10,877 people a year for the past five years, largely owing to immigration. Dubbed British Columbia\u2019s \u201csecond downtown,\u201d it\u2019s on its way to surpassing Vancouver to become the province\u2019s most populous city, with a projected population<\/a> of 783,690 by 2041<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Meeting the need for more primary care practitioners<\/p>\n

SFU\u2019s Stephens Family School of Medicine is hoping to close the gaps in Canada\u2019s health care system, with a long-term goal of educating and training more family-medicine practitioners. <\/p>\n

According to the Canadian Medical Association<\/a>, more than one in five Canadians don\u2019t have a family doctor or nurse practitioner they see regularly. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw the need for a medical school focused on family practice and primary care,\u201d says Peter Hall, vice-provost and associate vice-president of academics at SFU.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Similar to stacked Jenga blocks, the structure includes sculpted stacked buildings that blend with the flow of downtown Surrey, the area\u2019s exterior cityscape and the activities taking place inside the building.Supplied\/Stantec and Revery Architecture<\/p>\n

A campus with a purpose<\/p>\n

Set to open in 2030, the new SFU medical school building will anchor downtown Surrey\u2019s new Centre Block development, serving as a multiuse hub that\u2019s easily accessible by transit.<\/p>\n

It will occupy the former site of the North Surrey Recreation Centre, demolished in 2025<\/a>, and sit directly adjacent to the SFU Surrey campus and Surrey Central Station. It will also be located to the south of City Hall, a public plaza and the City of Surrey\u2019s municipal hub. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis site is an integral part to connecting that urban landscape together, as well as the bus and the SkyTrain transit systems to create a real active node and a sense of community,\u201d says Darren Burns, vice-president of design and innovation for buildings at Stantec, the project\u2019s architect-of-record and main consultant who jointly partnered with Revery Architecture on Centre Block.<\/p>\n

SFU\u2019s Stephens Family School of Medicine is Western Canada\u2019s first new med school since the University of Calgary\u2019s Cumming School of Medicine<\/a> was founded in 1967. It will take over seven floors of the 12-storey mixed-use development and feature retail at grade, in addition to four floors of office space for the City of Surrey. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis Centre Block project aligns well with Surrey\u2019s official community plan and the desire to have a civic hub and to expand an academic hub,\u201d Mr. Burns says. <\/p>\n

SFU already has a strong presence in Surrey\u2019s city centre, with an academic campus that includes the School of Interactive Arts and Technology, the School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering and the School for Sustainable Energy Engineering. <\/p>\n

Community building<\/p>\n

The university\u2019s new medical school will include high-tech classrooms, research spaces, administrative offices, an outpatient clinic and a 49-space child-care centre. The publicly accessible family outpatient clinic will occupy the second floor of the building and incorporate educational training and other community health services. Five floors of academic space will also sit directly above the clinic and right below SFU\u2019s dedicated floor for child care. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe building is activated at the street level, at the pedestrian level and 360 degrees around to make it feel really connected and bring in the community,\u201d Mr. Burns says.<\/p>\n

The structure\u2019s design looks like sculpted stacked buildings, similar to a Jenga game, that seamlessly blend with what\u2019s happening inside the building, while connecting to downtown Surrey and the area\u2019s exterior cityscape. <\/p>\n

Inside the building, an open atrium will welcome visitors and is surrounded by multilevel gathering places, including dedicated Indigenous student spaces. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an Indigenous consultant on our team to help with that engagement and to help with reaching out to the community,\u201d Mr. Burns adds, saying the team has engaged with Indigenous knowledge keepers and a steering committee to incorporate Indigenous themes into the building.<\/p>\n

As the university\u2019s new urban campus grows in Surrey, Mr. Hall is hopeful that the school can secure funding to build additional student services such as health and wellness programs and housing. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur Surrey campus until now has been a bit fragmented,\u201d says Mr. Hall, adding that the SFU is hoping the new med school building will provide a sense of identity, cohesion and integration.<\/p>\n

He points to Britain\u2019s University of London as a hub worth emulating as SFU intends for its new med school building to serve Surrey\u2019s civic and business communities. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe University of London prides itself on being halfway between the old commercial city of London and Westminster and acting as an integration point between commerce and government,\u201d Mr. Hall says. \u201cThere may be something here, eventually, like that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Simon Fraser University\u2019s Stephens Family School of Medicine will soon open at Centre…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":948972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1401,13754,49,48,324793,84,392,2922,13753,324791,324790,17922,241474,324794,324792],"class_list":["post-948971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-adveditorial","tag-advpropertyreport","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-centre-block-sfu","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-noastack","tag-property-report","tag-sfu-med-school","tag-sfu-stephens-family-school-of-medicine","tag-simon-fraser-university","tag-surrey-bc","tag-surrey-central-business-district","tag-surrey-centre-block"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=948971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/948972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=948971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=948971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=948971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}