Construction to start soon on new Ontario Science Centre opening ‘as early as’ 2029

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This article was published 26/02/2026 (194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – Construction is set to begin this spring on a new Ontario Science Centre on Toronto’s waterfront, at an estimated cost of just over $1 billion and a smaller footprint than the old facility.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Thursday that the contract has been awarded to build the new science centre at Ontario Place, which the government says will be completed “as early as” 2029.

“I couldn’t sleep last night,” Ford said at a press conference, adding later that the design reminds him of the Sydney Opera House in Australia. 

“This is stunning. This is world class and when they first showed me the architectural designs, I was like, ‘Wow, this is going to be world class. Everyone in the world will be talking about our Ontario Science Centre.'”

The province abruptly closed the science centre at its old location in east Toronto in the summer of 2024, citing an engineering report that found deficiencies with the roof.

Critics have questioned that reasoning, given that the roof has survived record amounts of snowfall this winter.

The government was working to relocate the science centre to Ontario Place before it closed the old facility, and a business case for the relocation suggested moving the science centre could help temper criticism of the other main part of the Ontario Place revitalization, a controversial spa and waterpark from European company Therme.

Jason Ash of the group Save Ontario’s Science Centre said it all goes back to the spa.

“A big part of today for the government was about trying to convince Ontarians to forget about the incredibly flawed process that led to today’s announcement,” he said. 

The new science centre facilities are set to be about 400,000 square feet, including a 220,000-square-foot main building, with an additional large space in the basement for operations and loading, as well as science programming in the Ontario Place pods and IMAX experiences in the Cinesphere.

The government’s 2023 business case noted that the science centre’s requests for what should be included in a new facility pegged 275,000 square feet as the smallest size that could contain all core Ontario Science Centre programming.

About 120,000 square feet in the new facility will be direct exhibit space, said Tourism, Culture and Gaming Minister Stan Cho. The sprawling former facility is more than 500,000 square feet, which Cho said was inefficiently used. It had 100,000 square feet of permanent exhibit space with another 27,500 square feet for temporary exhibits.

Liberal critic Adil Shamji, whose riding is home to the former science centre site, said what Ford is proposing is a “shadow” of what served Ontarians for decades.

“(He) is hiding science education behind downtown traffic, and that ultimately will deliver less programming in a fraction of the space than the current science centre offers students,” he said.

“It certainly is worrisome for the fact that it will make it more difficult for Ontarians, who are the ones who are footing the bill for this supposedly new science centre, it will make it more difficult for them to access it.”

A consultant report in the government’s business case for relocation noted that having the science centre at Ontario Place would likely draw more tourists and venue rentals, but would limit visits from school groups and suburban families, the “core market for the OSC.”

Ford touted ease of access for the Ontario Place location, with nearby GO train and future subway stations, but Shamji noted the old science centre site will also have a new subway stop nearby as well as the recently opened Eglinton Crosstown LRT. 

An interim science centre is set to open this summer at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, which has been hosting one of two temporary pop-up locations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 26, 2026.