Part of a long-term revitalization effort by the City of Surrey, the Surrey Public Library was built to replace the Whalley Public Library. The design was created by Bing Thom Architect who had designed the nearby City Centre complex as well as Vancouver-area buildings such as the UBC Chan Centre. The total budget was set at $36 million, the provincial and federal governments each contributed $10 million with the remainder supplied by the city. The building was built by LEED silver energy efficient standards and the library has 7,200 square metres of usable space over four floors.