C R E AT E D BY BCBusiness I N PA RT N E RS H I P W IT H SFU
pendent campus building, he says, Thom's mixed-use devel-
opment revived the fortunes of a faltering neighbourhood and
helped to establish a new urban focal point for the province's
fastest growing city – a transformation reinforced by the City
of Surrey's investments in a new City Hall and Central Library,
combined with investments from the private sector and public
agencies such as the Fraser Health Authority.
SFU also has further growth plans for the area, and has just
opened another remarkable Bing Thom-designed building that
combines labs and classrooms for its new Sustainable Energy
Engineering program with space for community use. In these
ways, the university has been able to "leverage their invest-
ments for a lot bigger yield than from just building new facili-
ties," Beasley notes.
Even while revitalizing and enriching Vancouver and Surrey,
SFU has modeled innovative city building on Burnaby Moun-
tain, Beasley says. "If it was only a matter of getting value out
of their original endowment, SFU could have done just a basic
housing add-on. Instead, they have built a complete, resilient,
sustainable and socially responsible community." UniverCity
now has over 5,000 residents (on its way to over 9,000), with a
commercial high street that serves the university as well as the
community. The development has been a global trend setter,
contributing everything from a zero-footprint UniverCity Child-
care centre hailed as the greenest on the planet to a low-carbon
neighbourhood energy utility and, soon, a 12,000-square-foot
art museum, sponsored by the Marianne and Edward Gibson
Trust. Beasley says, "It's an exemplary settlement, a model of
contemporary thinking. I don't think UniverCity has received
anywhere near the national attention that it deserves."
Petter is equally enthused. "SFU has been forever conscious
about leveraging our resources to the fullest extent possible for
the benefit of our communities. At the same time, our engage-
ment strategy has enriched learning experiences and research
opportunities for students and faculty, and helped to strengthen
the university's reputation. In Vancouver, Surrey and Burnaby,
we have shown how a university can do well by doing good." n
P R O M O T E D C O N T E N T
FACEBOOK
facebook.com/
simonfraseruniversity
TWITTER
twitter.com/sfu
INSTAGRAM
instagram.com/
simonfraseru/
LINKEDIN
linkedin.com/school/
simon-fraser-university/
Richard Littlemore, a frequent contributor to BC Business,
is also frequently engaged by SFU, which sponsored this
content.
adjacent the original campus on Burnaby Mountain.
