Last Thursday, VRCA’s U40 Network held a construction site tour at Clayton Community Centre. The Centre is designed to achieve Passive House certification, putting it on track to be the first community centre to achieve Passive House in North America and Canada’s largest Passive House facility to date.
Designed as a futuristic community space, the building will combine four aspects of the City of Surrey’s community services — recreation, library, arts, and parks in a seamlessly integrated facility. It is located in the culturally diverse and rapidly growing neighbourhood of Clayton Heights in Surrey, BC, and is sited between two closely spaced secondary schools.
Clayton Community Centre is expected to be completed by April 28, 2020 and will open to the public in May 2020. Once finished, it will feature social spaces for people to hang out, relax, and communally work. The diverse mix of spaces combines arts and culture programming including music and recording studios and a community rehearsal hall, with recreational activities that include a gymnasium and fitness centre, a branch library, a community kitchen and associated community garden, a tool sharing centre with a community workhop, a café, and child-minding, preschool and childcare spaces.
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All of the building’s glass is triple-paned to meet Passive House certification, while VRCA member Seagate Structures Ltd. installed the glulam. Larger geometric spaces in the ceiling will feature pop-out skylights, lending a unique look to the glass ceiling of the structure.
Building the Centre’s non-windowed ceilings has reportedly been the most challenging aspect of the project, as tradespeople must find space for all the mechanical pieces while still maintaining the required Passive House standard.
Following the tour, attendees enjoyed networking and dinner at the nearby Dublin Crossing Pub, where the group raised nearly $500 for KidStart, the U40 Network’s charity of choice.
Special thanks to event sponsor GeoScan Subsurface Surveys and to EllisDon, who sponsored and hosted this great tour. To join the next U40 Network construction site tour, be sure to check our events calendar regularly.