The plans for the Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre were first announced in 2012 with a series of public open houses hosted by the City of Surrey in conjunction with Stuart Rothnie, architect for HMCA Architecture + Design. The facility was originally planned to begin construction in fall 2012 and be completed by summer 2014. The opening of the facility was delayed in November 2015 by weeks due to a leaking air pipe in the leisure pool that was discovered during construction. This delay pushed the project's expected completion date to March 2016. Prior to this delay, the facility was scheduled to open in January 2016. The Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre had a soft opening in March 2016 and a grand opening on June 11, 2016. Typically, facilities of this size have a warranty maintenance closure of approximately two to six weeks; Grandview had its warranty closure beginning on August 29 and ending on October 3, 2016.
Facility
The facility, sized at an approximate, has an open concept lobby featuring a cafe and classroom with male, female and unisex changing rooms on the ground floor, with the fitness centre above. The natatorium includes an Olympic-size swimming pool, a leisure pool, a family hot tub and separate adult hot tub, a water slide, and a steam room and sauna in addition to numerous other water features. The natatorium's viewing area and additional pool deck has seating for up to 900 spectators. The main pool is a 10-lane competition lap pool with a length of and width of, featuring a movable floor in the shallow end and two movable floating bulkheads that allow the facility to accommodate a variety of activities. As the lap pool has a full set of diving boards and platforms up to a height of, the deepest part of the main pool is. The movable floor, with a length of and width of, is reported to be the largest movable floor in British Columbia. The main pool was built to FINA standards, ensuring that it can host competitive events. The leisure pool is approximately, with an embedded lazy river as well as spray features, a small water slide and play features.
Design
Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre has a unique timber roof system that spans in length. The roof presents an "undulating" pattern enforced by steel cables and lengths of Douglas fir. It claims the title of the world's longest spanning timber catenary roof.
Awards
The aquatic centre has been received numerous provincial, national and international awards for its architecture. The awards include:
The facility was presented the Schreyer Award & Award of Excellence at the 2016 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards in October 2016 for demonstrating "technical excellence and innovation".
The National Council of Structural Engineers Associations recognized the facility in 2016 as an outstanding project for the Excellence in Structural Engineering Awards in the New Buildings $30 to $100 Million category.
The facility was recognized in November 2016 at the 6th Annual Fraser Valley Commercial Building Awards, winning the category of Community Recreational.
