Funding from the community is the driving force behind the biggest expansion in Langley Memorial Hospital's maternity ward in years.

Construction is underway now on a new wing dubbed the Vanderkerkhove Family Maternity Centre.

The centre will have seven new Single Room Maternity Care rooms, bringing the total from 13 to 20.

The maternity clinic will also be relocated to be directly adjacent to the maternity care unit.

The renovation will end the practice of doctors having to jog from one wing to another while serving their patients.

The cost of the expansion is $6.5 million.

The bulk of that money is coming from the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation.

A total of $5.35 million has been donated by the foundation, with $1.15 million for the renovation coming from Fraser Health.

Another $5.5 million in various infrastructure projects to support the expansion are being paid for by the health authority as well.

The new facility is named after the family that donated $1 million towards the construction costs.

Tania Vrionis, the hospital foundation's executive director, said the new SRMCs are the "Cadillac of maternity rooms."

The expansion will also leave room for another three rooms if funds can be found in the future.

There will also be a dedicated post-anaesthetic recovery unit to allow families to stay together after surgery, a renovated nursery space with better isolation facilities for infants, more on-call rooms for medical students working on obstetrics, and a multi-purpose space for staff to do training and hold meetings.

The reason for the change is the rapid growth in Langley and its immediate neighbours, and the huge numbers of new mothers coming to the hospital.

The materinity clinic currently sees more than 10,000 patient visits every year.

The number of births is expected to hit 2,336 by the year 2020, which would be a 28 per cent increase from the year 2009.

Construction on the expansion will be completed later in the year, with all seven beds open by 2015.

mclaxton@langleyadvance.com