Bear Creek Park, situated near the geographic core of Surrey, now has a new sports venue for its centrepiece.
Earlier this spring, construction reached completion on the new Bear Creek Stadium — a purpose-built track-and-field athletics training and competition venue.
The City of Surrey constructed the grandstand as part of a $24 million project to overhaul the park’s athletics facilities.
The previous dilapidated bleachers on the east side of the athletics field have now been replaced with a brand new large concrete grandstand structure, with most of the seating area — enough to accommodate 2,200 spectators — covered by a roof with a warm wood ceiling.
The grandstand also offers accessible seating on an upper concourse level, which can be accessed by an elevator tower.
In addition to the stadium’s north entrance, there are also three tunnels through the grandstand structure for the ingress and egress of spectators.
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Beneath the spectator seating, the concrete structure contains new public washrooms and changerooms for both stadium uses and the adjacent playground/water play area. There are also purpose-built officials’ rooms, meeting rooms, box office, and concession stand spaces.
The venue also features nighttime lighting to illuminate both the field and the seating area.
Bear Creek Stadium is intended to provide Surrey with new sports hosting capabilities, especially in track and field. It will enable Surrey to bid for major Athletics Canada events, and benefit local organizations such as BC Athletics and BC School Sports for both training and local/provincial-level events.
“The new Bear Creek Stadium is a game-changer for the City of Surrey’s sports amenity infrastructure,” said Mayor Brenda Locke in a statement.
“This significant investment is a strategic move to boost community involvement in sports, support local athletic talent, and attract visitors to Surrey. The stadium will be vibrant hub of activity, elevating Surrey’s reputation as a destination for sports and community events. More than just a venue for events, this facility is dedicated to providing top-notch amenities for training and promoting physical activity, ensuring that our expanding population has access to quality athletic opportunities.”
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
The stadium is designed by the Vancouver office of global architectural firm Stantec, with contributions by sports design consultants JSA Sports, wood structural design specialists Fast+Epp, and landscaping firm PFS Studio.
A public art component is incorporated into the design, with a number of sculptures of animals installed onto the outside wall of the grandstand structure.
Currently, work is underway on completing the project’s final major component of upgrading the athletics track and associated field events area. The entire stadium project is expected to reach completion in Fall 2024.
Bear Creek Park is located roughly mid-way between the Surrey City Centre and Newton areas of the city, along the King George Boulevard corridor. It is accessible by the R1 King George Boulevard RapidBus service.
The new Bear Creek Stadium adds to Metro Vancouver’s athletics competition-capable venues of Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, which has about 5,300 seats, and Coquitlam’s Percy Perry Stadium, which has about 5,300 seats. Each of these three venues have space where temporary grandstands can be added to increase spectator capacity for more high profile events.
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Surrey’s project is comparable to the scope of the 2021-built stadium grandstand project for Terry Fox Field at Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby Mountain campus. The $10 million project completed an 1,800-seat partially covered grandstand, which also doubled as supporting building space for various on-campus sports operations.
In November 2023, the District of West Vancouver began a $17 million project of rebuilding the Harry Jerome Oval athletics field at West Vancouver Secondary School, due to the existing field’s poor condition. It is expected to reach completion in late 2025.
The Vancouver Park Board also has an athletics facilities strategy, with the goal of building Vancouver’s first regulation competitive track-and-field training facility at Vancouver Technical Secondary School in East Vancouver.
Previous condition:
Previous condition of the track-and-field facility at Bear Creek Park. (Google Maps)
New condition:
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Surrey’s new Bear Creek Park Stadium. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)