Construction well underway on Burnaby Hospital — and on schedule

Fraser Health officials say the Burnaby Hospital redevelopment is firmly on schedule, and it plans to finish its first phase in 2025 before finally completing in 2030.

There will be a community open house on the project with updates and the chance for a Q and A on Thursday, Nov. 23 from 5 to 6 p.m.

The redevelopment is intended to “transform the hospital into a modernized medical and surgical health care campus,” Noor Esmail, the redevelopment’s chief project officer, told Burnaby council Oct. 30.

The new patient pavilion and the expanded support facilities building, including the Jim Pattison Surgery Centre and the Burnaby Community Emergency Centre, are expected to open in April 2025.

Plans were approved to renovate the existing perioperative department, which will now include 10 new operating rooms, Esmail said.

The second phase will increase the hospital’s capacity to a 160-bed, 12-storey patient care tower and expand cancer services with an integrated BC Cancer Centre.

Phase 2 of the redevelopment will also see the emergency department and the endoscopy suite renovated.

To make way for the new tower, the West Wing building will be demolished.

Procurement for Phase 2 is now underway and construction is expected to begin in 2025 and be complete in 2030.

The $2.4-billion redevelopment will result in 399 beds across the campus.

“This will have a huge positive impact on the patients and the families we serve, as well as our dedicated staff, medical staff and volunteers,” Esmail said.

Construction is on schedule, with the concrete pour and building structure almost complete.

Leanne Appleton, Burnaby Hospital’s executive director, showed a view of the Burnaby skyline that many of the patient rooms will look onto.

She said the hospital remains “fully operational,” although some services are temporarily relocated throughout the “very complex renovation.”

The mayor said the project was “long overdue.”

“We’ve had world-class staff there for a long, long time, who really worked in buildings that were, let’s be honest, very below standard.”

He said he was glad to see the hospital being “brought up to the same standard as the staff.”

The hospital serves 500,000 people in Burnaby and East Vancouver, according to Hurley.

Late last month, the Burnaby Hospital Foundation raised more than $500,000 for the project at its ninth annual gala.