City of Vancouver awards $7 million contract for new Bute-Robson Plaza

City of Vancouver awards $7 million contract to build new Bute-Robson Plaza

Final permanent design of the Bute-Robson Plaza. (City of Vancouver)

The start of road reconstruction work on a segment of Robson Street in downtown Vancouver’s West End neighbourhood is just around the corner.

On Wednesday, Vancouver City Council is expected to approve City of Vancouver staff’s recommendation to award a contract to Lafarge Canada to be the contractor for building the new Bute-Robson Plaza.

This is a transformation of the intersection of Robson Street and Bute Street into a pedestrian-oriented space, with a new permanent design for the public realm.

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This includes wide north-south raised Bute Street pedestrian crosswalks across Robson Street, as well as wider pedestrian crosswalks on both sides of Robson Street — replacing the curbside vehicle parking spaces — in the immediate area to the east and west of the intersection. Currently, temporary fixtures are used to widen the sidewalk and create patio spaces.

bute robson plaza vancouver temporary october 27 2021

Interim design of Bute-Robson Plaza as of October 2021. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

bute robson plaza vancouver temporary september 18 2022 f

Interim design of the Bute-Robson Plaza as of September 2022. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

bute robson street intersection plaza may 2022

Robson Street looking east from Bute Street, May 2022. (Google Maps)

To the north of the intersection to Eihu Lane (the laneway just before Alberni Street), an interim design will be established, which will close through-vehicle access to accommodate a bike path, relocated Mobi bike share station, and gathering spaces.

To the south of the intersection to the Rosemary Brown Lane (the laneway just before Haro Street), the existing car-free pop-up plaza will see a new design that replaces its road asphalt with high-quality pavers, landscaping, lighting, seating, a bike path, and weather protection structures.

There were previously plans to build a car-free space on the segment of Bute Street between Rosemary Brown Lane and Haro Street to link with Bute-Haro Mini Park, but City staff note that this segment has been removed from the contract due to a funding gap. All three submitted bids for the full project scope were over budget, with Wilco Civil coming in with the highest bid of $9.98 million, followed by $8.69 million from Jacob Bros Construction and the lowest bid of $7.9 million from Lafarge Canada.

City Council is being asked to approve a negotiated reduced scope contract of $6.71 million plus tax to Lafarge Canada, which removes the southernmost segment of the project reaching Haro Street.

Existing condition:

Existing condition of the intersection of Robson Street and Bute Street. (Google Maps)

Original project scope:

Original scope concept of Bute-Robson Plaza, with the south section (yellow) noted for removal due to budgetary constraints. (City of Vancouver)

Revised project scope:

2024 revised scope concept: Final design of the Bute-Robson Plaza. (City of Vancouver)

This contract will last 18 months. Based on the procurement files, construction is targeted to begin in June 2024 and be completed in November 2025.

Bute-Robson Plaza represents a small section of the municipal government’s plan to establish the Bute Street Greenway — creating a continuous active transportation corridor for walking and cycling between the Coal Harbour and English Bay waterfronts.

A future phase could potentially complete Bute Street Greenway’s permanent segments between Alberni Street and West Pender Street and an interim segment adjacent to Nelson Park between Nelson Street and Comox Street.

In 2016, the City completed Jim Deva Plaza within Davie Village — located on Bute Street south of Davie Street to the laneway. Bute Street’s car-free segments, known as Jim Deva Plaza and the decades-old Bute-Haro Mini Park, form segments of the future greenway.

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