Kenneth Chan, (DAILY HIVE VANCOUVER) — Aging and antiquated facilities at Burnaby Hospital will be replaced over the coming years, now that a $1.4-billion redevelopment of the hospital is officially proceeding.
Following a procurement process, the provincial government has selected EllisDon Infrastructure to design and build the first phase of the redevelopment, comprised of the new replacement Keith and Betty Beedie Pavilion, the expansion of the Support Facilities Building to include a new energy centre, and the renovation of existing buildings.
The new pavilion will be a six-storey building with 83 beds, with all patient rooms, except for one, designed for a single-occupancy patient configuration to provide greater comfort and privacy for patients and their families.
Other components of the pavilion include a maternity and labour unit, neonatal intensive care unit, medical inpatient unit with negative pressure rooms and outbreak zones to isolate infectious diseases, and inpatient mental health and substance use unit with a secured outdoor patio.
The first phase of the redevelopment will also provide the hospital with an expanded emergency department, and operating and procedure rooms.
Artistic rendering of the new replacement Keith and Betty Beedie Pavilion (first phase) at Burnaby Hospital. (Fraser Health)
With the selection of a contractor, construction will begin later this summer for the completion of the new Beedie Pavilion and expanded Support Facilities Building in 2025, with renovations finished in 2027. These first phase projects carry a combined cost of $612 million, with $578 million funded by the provincial government and the remainder from the Burnaby Hospital Foundation.
“The redevelopment of the Burnaby Hospital will make a real difference for the people of Burnaby — providing better health for people now and protecting people and communities from health challenges, today and into the future,” said Adrian Dix, BC minister of health, in a statement.
“I’m excited to announce we’ve reached this major milestone in the redevelopment, and shovels will soon be in the ground to modernize the hospital in one of our province’s fastest-growing communities.”
Artistic rendering of the new replacement Keith and Betty Beedie Pavilion (first phase) at Burnaby Hospital. (Fraser Health)
The second phase of the redevelopment will provide the hospital with a second patient care tower with 160 beds, new cancer treatment centre, new medical imaging department, and another expansion to the emergency department. A business case has yet to be approved for the second phase, but construction is expected to begin in 2025 for a completion in 2028.
Both phases combined represent the largest improvements made to the 1952-built, 314-bed hospital in over 40 years. The hospital serves both Burnaby’s growing population, now about 250,000 residents, as well as East Vancouver.
Burnaby Hospital, located just west of Electronic Arts’ corporate campus, also directly serves the increasingly dense Brentwood area, and is the closest hospital to the Metrotown Downtown area, which will see immense growth over the coming decades.
Prior to the pandemic, the hospital saw about 70,000 visits annually, and this figure is expected to rise by almost 60% by 2036.
The provincial government confirmed its plans for Burnaby Hospital in 2019.
“I’m so pleased to mark this significant milestone for the Burnaby Hospital redevelopment today, moving us another step closer to bringing expanded health-care services to the community,” said Dr. Victoria Lee, president and CEO of Fraser Health Authority.
“I am grateful to our teams and our partners that have focused on patients at the centre of Phase 1 to ensure that the design supports a positive patient care journey. The state-of-the-art medical, cancer and surgical health-care campus will support our staff and medical staff to serve the community for many years to come.”
Artistic rendering of the new replacement Keith and Betty Beedie Pavilion (first phase) at Burnaby Hospital. (Fraser Health)
The new hospital facilities will be built to a LEED Gold green building standard, which is now the minimum green building standard for all new hospitals in BC moving forward.
EllisDon is also the builder of Surrey Memorial Hospital’s 2014-built critical care tower, and earlier in 2021 it was selected as the contractor of the next phases of the $1.5-billion redevelopment of New Westminster’s Royal Columbian Hospital, now under construction.
Other major hospital development projects in Metro Vancouver include the new replacement and expanded St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver’s False Creek Flats, which will have a total floor area of 1.7 million sq ft, including 548 beds and a number of major provincial programs and referral centres. It will cost $2.2 billion, with $1.327 billion funded by the provincial government. Construction on the new St. Paul’s Hospital began earlier this year, and completion is also planned for 2027.
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