B.C. opens 23 new and upgraded schools as Richmond projects advance

The province says 23 new and improved schools are opening across B.C. Richmond’s City Centre Elementary has been renovated as a public school, adding 315 seats. Alfred B. Dixon Elementary’s seismic replacement is expected to be complete in late fall 2026 and provide 400 seismically safer seats.

Richmond projects

• The province provided nearly $11 million for City Centre Elementary and more than $31 million for Alfred B. Dixon Elementary.
• Construction on a 465-seat seismic replacement for John Diefenbaker Elementary is scheduled to begin in fall 2026. The school will include a neighbourhood learning centre with child care services; the province provided more than $52 million.

Since 2017, the province says it has approved more than $7 billion for school capital projects across B.C., including nearly 50,000 new student seats and almost 40,000 seismically safer seats.