British Columbia, the third-most populous province in Canada, is home to the second highest number of skyscrapers and high-rises in the country, after Ontario. The vast majority of buildings taller than 100 metres (328 ft) in British Columbia are in Greater Vancouver, the third largest metropolitan area in Canada, with the remainder in Kelowna. There are nine cities in British Columbia with at least one building exceeding 100 m (328 ft) in height: Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Delta, Langley, New Westminster, North Vancouver, Surrey, and Kelowna. Of these, Vancouver and Burnaby make up over half of all buildings in the list. The tallest building in the province is Two Gilmore Place, a 215.8 m (708 ft), 67-storey residential skyscraper in Burnaby.
Contents
- History
- Tallest buildings
- Cities with the most skyscrapers
- Tallest demolished
- Timeline of tallest buildings
- Notes
- See also
- References
- External links
The Legislative Building in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, was the tallest building in the province when it was completed in 1897. As Vancouver subsequently overtook Victoria in population and economic importance, it would go on to have the majority of the tallest buildings in British Columbia during the 20th century. The first building in British Columbia to surpass 100 m (328 ft) in height was the Hotel Vancouver in 1939. High-rise development was slow before the mid-1960s. Notable office towers such as TD Tower and the Harbour Centre being added to Vancouver's skyline in the 1970s. Since the 1980s, Vancouver's urban planning has been highly influenced by the philosophy of Vancouverism, which encourages mixed-use development, narrow high-rise residential towers atop a commercial base, and reliance on public transit. [1] [2] In 2009, the first skyscraper exceeding 150 m (492 ft) in height in British Columbia, Living Shangri-La, opened in Vancouver. This reflected a uptick in the height of new developments in Vancouver, which has since completed six more such skyscrapers.
The 21st century also seen an increasing number of residential high-rises being built throughout the city's metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver (also known as Metro Vancouver). Between 2000 and 2025, the number of buildings taller than 100 m (328 ft) in Greater Vancouver quintupled from 31 to 175. This surge in condominium towers has been especially notable in Burnaby. Burnaby has less stringest height restrictions than Vancouver, where municipal regulations forbid any building from exceeding 200 meters (677 ft) in height above mean sea level in order to preserve sight lines out toward the Pacific Ranges. [3] As a result, Burnaby has surpassed Vancouver in the number of skyscrapers taller than 150 m (492 ft). In 2024, Two Gilmore Place was completed in Burnaby, ending Vancouver's reign of having the tallest building in the province since 1910. A smaller high-rise boom has also taken place in Kelowna since the late 2010s, with the Okanagan Valley city having four buildings taller than 100 m (328 ft) by 2025.
In Greater Vancouver, the SkyTrain has encouraged transit-oriented development (TOD), with most high-rise developments occurring near a SkyTrain station. [4] [5] [6] [7] This has led to the creation of many urban cores throughout Greater Vancouver, each with a distinct cluster of tall buildings. The most prominent clusters outside downtown Vancouver are Metrotown and Brentwood in Burnaby, Coquitlam Town Centre and Burquitlam in Coquitlam, and Surrey City Centre in Surrey. Other clusters include Edmonds and Lougheed in Burnaby, Suter Brook Village in Port Moody, Marine Drive in southern Vancouver, Lonsdale in North Vancouver, Downtown and Sapperton in New Westminster, central Richmond, West Vancouver, and the unincorporated area of University Endowment Lands.
