Construction begins on Surrey's new $2.9 billion Cloverdale hospital

Artistic rendering of the new Cloverdale hospital at 5500 180 Street, Surrey. (Government of BC)

As of today, early site preparation works are underway on the future site of Cloverdale hospital, marking the official start of construction on Surrey’s second hospital.

But it was also revealed that the project’s total cost had ballooned by nearly 75%, with the project now carrying a price tag of $2.88 billion — up by $1.22 billion from the estimated figure of $1.66 billion in 2021, when the provincial government last provided an update on the project’s timeline.

This is about $730 million more expensive than the larger new replacement provincial-scale facility for St. Paul’s Hospital currently under construction in the False Creek Flats next to Vancouver’s Chinatown district.

Due to inflation since early 2022, there has been a significant escalation in the market costs for construction materials, equipment, and labour.

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Through a procurement process, Fraser Health has selected Ellis-Don Design Build to design and build the new facility through a design-build agreement.

“The new Surrey hospital and cancer centre gives us a rare opportunity to build a net-new hospital and cancer centre that will add much-needed capacity for healthcare services in the community,” said Adrian Dix, BC Minister of Health, in a statement.

“The facts are the people of the fast-growing Surrey community need a second hospital and they need it as soon as possible. So, despite significant cost escalation due to inflation, supply chain disruptions and labour shortages, we are moving forward to deliver the new state-of-the-art hospital and cancer centre.”

The new Cloverdale hospital will be built at 5500 180 Street, immediately south of the Kwantlen Polytechnic University campus.

Existing condition:

5500 180 Street Surrey Cloverdale Hospital

Location of the future Cloverdale hospital at 5500 180 Street, Surrey. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Artistic rendering of the new Cloverdale hospital at 5500 180 Street, Surrey. (Government of BC)

This new facility to meet the growing population needs of Surrey and Langley will also double as a new regional cancer centre.

There will be 168 beds, including medical/surgical beds, high acuity beds and medical oncology beds, and an emergency department with 55 treatment spaces.

The BC Cancer Centre facility within the hospital will have a 50-room oncology ambulatory care unit, 54 chemotherapy treatment spaces, and room for six linear accelerators for radiation therapy.

Other features entail a surgical/perioperative suite with five operating rooms, four procedure rooms, a large medical imaging department, and virtual care options, such as virtual intake, emergency followups, outpatient clinics, and pre/post-surgical care, as well as robotics, wearable technology, and smart beds.

Artistic rendering of the new Cloverdale hospital at 5500 180 Street, Surrey. (Government of BC)

This is being deemed as a “state-of-the-art smart hospital” with the latest advanced digital equipment and technology. It will also be a fully electric hospital without the use of fossil fuels for its regular energy systems — one of the first of its kind in Canada.

Construction is expected to reach completion in 2029 for an opening in 2030.

“Surrey has been experiencing tremendous growth and people are struggling to get the health services they need while healthcare workers are burning out,” said Premier David Eby in a statement. “We’re taking urgent action while carefully planning for the future. As we break ground on the new, state-of-the-art Surrey hospital and cancer centre, work continues on immediate actions to improve health services in the region, so everyone gets the timely, high-quality health care they need.”

The new hospital will provide annual capacity for 28,000 more surgical procedures for an aging and growing population, increase medical imaging capacity by almost 280,000 exams annually, and divert nearly 120,000 emergency department visits annually away from other busy Fraser Health hospitals. The cancer care capacity will support 105,000 ambulatory oncology care visits, 50,000 radiation therapy visits, and 22,000 chemotherapy visits.

Site of the new Surrey hospital in Cloverdale. (Government of BC)

Site of the new Surrey hospital in Cloverdale. (Google Maps)

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