Project Category – New Construction (completed April 2001)

Facility Contact – Karim Nurmohamed, Regional Director, Facilities Planning & Management, (604) 585-5651

Firm – Stantec Architecture, Ltd., (604) 742-8020

Design Team – Bruce Raber, Principal; Mike Alivojvodic, Project Architect; Ray Pradinuk, Design Architect; George Yano, Contract Administration (Stantec Architecture, Ltd.); Jerry Vagelatos, Landscape Architect (Vagelatos & Associates)

Patient/Bed Capacity – 194 beds

Total Building Area (sq. ft.) – 327,000

Total Land Area (acres) – 22.68

Total Cost (excluding land) – $48,500,000 (Canadian)


By 1991, Surrey’s population had grown large enough to support specialized services in pediatric, adolescent and maternity care at the hospital. In addition, several of Surrey Memorial Hospital’s treatment services, including the surgical suite and the CSSD, needed to expand or be replaced. The Children’s Health Centre constituted Stage 2 of a three-stage development program that included a new plant services building in Stage 1, by the same architects, and the (still-future) demolition of the adjacent old south building in Stage 3.

The Hospital wanted to create an environment that would attract families and staff, keep pace with changes in technology and service delivery, and contribute to the advancement of a sensitive healthcare culture.

The principles guiding the design were: to create a center of clinical excellence within a healing environment; to create a building that works for patients, families, staff and the community; to organize the building to achieve critical adjacencies; to establish clear functional zones; to provide access to light, views and nature for all patients; to create a second front door to the hospital that integrates the new building with adjacent buildings on all levels; to simplify wayfinding; and to provide for a logical pattern of future growth with minimal physical and operational impact.

The greatest challenge was to realize these principles while accommodating a wide range of functional programs, including at least four distinct sets of requirements for inpatient room size and bed mix-all within a fixed and limited site area, program area and budget.

Ease of campus wayfinding was accomplished with a compact primary circulation loop that would minimize travel distance and path complexity between primary destinations. An arching and curving heavy timber canopy shelters visitors from the vehicle drop off and will eventually be extended to link up with an extended care facility. Shared support zones were created that are convenient to each floor as a whole, while most patient rooms are in quiet cross-hall corridor pods that facilitate staff, patient and family interaction/support.

Level 1 contains the Children’s Health Centre with a 28-bed Pediatric Inpatient Unit, Pediatric Outpatient Unit and 10-bed Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, as well as an 8-bed ICU, 10-room Surgical Suite and a Morgue. The Level 2 Family Birthing Centre contains 38 LDRPs, 3 postpartum rooms and an 18-bed Special Care Nursery. Level 3 provides four Surgical Inpatient Units with a total of 84 beds.