Construction underway on new Royal B.C. Museum building in Colwood

A rendering of the Royal BC Museum collections and research building in Colwood, B.C., is pictured. Feb. 23, 2023. (Province of B.C./Flickr)

Construction is now underway on the Royal B.C. Museum's new collections and research building in Colwood.

The British Columbia government says the new building will open to the public in 2026 as a 15,200-square-metre, state-of-the-art facility to house the province's archives and collections.

The mass-timber building in Colwood's new Royal Bay neighbourhood will also house research labs and learning spaces for the public.

"It's an important day as we move forward on a new collections and archives building that will properly store and safeguard our province’s shared history, priceless artifacts and archives," B.C. Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport Lana Popham said in a statement Wednesday.

The $205-million construction contract was awarded to Maple Reinders Constructors Ltd. The province estimates the total project cost for the new facility at $270 million.

Tracey Drake, acting CEO of the Royal B.C. Museum, said the building will offer a "window into the world of the museum," with visitors able to see paleontologists, entomologists, botanists and zoologists at work.

The province says the new facility will create 1,000 direct and indirect jobs during construction, and will safeguard museum artifacts currently at risk of damage from flooding, such as artworks from the 1700s and several paintings by Emily Carr.