Award

J U N E 2 0 2 5 | 75 Cloverdale Sport & Ice Complex R EN D ER I N GS CO U RT E S Y T H E C I T Y O F SU R R E Y CLOVERDALE SPORT & ICE COMPLEX by ROBIN BRUNET S urrey, once thought of as Vancouver's low-rent bedroom community, is today one of the fastest growing cities in Canada, expected to top Vancouver's popula- tion in 2029 at over 785,000 people – meaning more amenities tend to be the focus of new capital projects. Hence, the development of the Cloverdale Sport & Ice Complex, the first phase of which was near- ing completion this spring and whose 95,000 square feet contains two NHL-sized arena ice sheets, community meeting spaces, food ser- vices, and outdoor activity areas. Arguably, were it not for Hollywood, the project's ultimate goal to develop three ice sheets might have been achieved in a single phase. However, Warner Bros. had leased and built a film set on the building site whose proximity obliged archi- tects TK A+D Architecture + Design in association with RDHA to design for two rinks (Warner vacated the site last year, and development of the third sheet is underway). Aiman Arar, capital projects man- ager at the City of Surrey, says, "Our vision was to create an appealing facility as opposed to a monolithic big box that has been the tradi- tion for so many ice complexes." The early stages of the design saw the architects develop several itera- tions for the two ice sheets, one being where they were placed end-to-end. In re-thinking the traditional model for ice complexes, TK A+D/RDHA decided to bring daylight and views to the are- nas and expose their activity to the street; the ice sheets were fully glazed on their long north sides, with the lobby, change rooms, and public ame- nities arranged along the south edge. The architects also developed a wood baffle assembly to provide a consistent ceiling plane across the entire building, improving acous- tics in the arenas and eliminating the typical visual jumble of exposed ceiling joists, ductwork, and other infrastructure. An outdoor warm-up plaza and pedestrian connections to an adjacent park contributed to the community centre-style ambiance. Arar says, "A beautiful, spacious lobby with double-height glazing also contributes greatly to the idea of this being a welcoming destination; it's a real highlight of the design." By the time Warner had vacated the site, the configuration had been modified so the rinks were posi- tioned side-by-side, and this posed challenges. Geoff Whiteley, project manager at Graham Construction and Engineering Inc. (which broke ground in August of 2022), explains, "Early on, and for budget considerations, it was decided that this would be a pre- engineered building, and whereas an end-to-end configuration would have been relatively easy to engineer, side- by-side required careful calculation LOCATION 6336 177B Street, Cloverdale, B.C. OWNER /DEVELOPER City of Surrey ARCHITECTS TKA+D Architecture + Design / RDHA CONSTRUCTION MANAGER Graham Construction STRUCTUR AL CONSULTANT WHM Structural Engineers MECHANICAL CONSULTANT AME ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT AES Engineering Ltd. CIVIL CONSULTANT Hub Engineering Inc. CODE CONSULTANT & CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL Pontem Group L ANDSCAPE ARCHITECT van der Zalm + associates TOTAL SIZE 95,000 square feet TOTAL COST $56.7 million

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