New Coal Harbour social housing and elementary school take shape

New Coal Harbour waterfront building with social housing and elementary school takes shape

Construction progress on the new Coal Harbour elementary school and social housing building, as of August 8, 2024. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

The new 11-storey building rising next to the Coal Harbour Community Centre is now impossible to miss on a leisurely stroll or bike ride on the Coal Harbour seawall in downtown Vancouver.

This is the City of Vancouver’s project to build a new mixed-use building with social housing on top of a childcare facility operated by the Vancouver Society of Children’s Centres and an additional public elementary school operated by the Vancouver School Board (VSB).

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Construction at 480 Broughton Street topped off on the rooftop earlier in 2024, and work is now advancing on the installation of the glass facade and interior works.

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Site of the Coal Harbour elementary school, childcare, and social housing complex. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Vancouver School Board/City of Vancouver)

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Construction progress on the new Coal Harbour elementary school and social housing building, as of August 8, 2024. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

The new Coal Harbour elementary school is directly tied with BC Hydro’s plan to build the new West End substation under the footprint of Lord Roberts Annex elementary school at Nelson Park. Existing students at Lord Roberts Annex will temporarily move to the new Coal Harbour school, enabling BC Hydro to demolish the existing Lord Roberts Annex and begin excavation and major construction activities.

After the West End substation is built, a new replacement school building will be built on the deck of the underground electrical infrastructure, and the Coal Harbour school will become a net gain in VSB’s capacity in downtown Vancouver.

According to a May 2024 notice to parents of students at Lord Roberts Annex, the new Coal Harbour school’s occupancy date is expected to be no earlier than the end of January 2025, which could enable a Spring 2025 mid-term move-in date for students.

When construction first began in Spring 2022, it was anticipated that the Coal Harbour mixed-use building would reach completion in Summer 2024.

Construction progress on the new Coal Harbour elementary school and social housing building, as of August 8, 2024. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

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Artistic rendering of a stacked elementary school and childcare facility integrated into an 11-storey, mixed-use building with social housing on downtown Vancouver’s Coal Harbour waterfront. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Vancouver School Board/City of Vancouver)

2021 artistic rendering of the Coal Harbour elementary school, childcare, and social housing complex at 480 Broughton Street, Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Vancouver School Board/City of Vancouver)

BC Hydro has indicated that construction on the West End substation is expected to begin in 2025 for a completion in 2030. The electric utility previously reached an agreement with VSB to provide at least $73 million towards the cost of building the new Coal Harbour school and the new replacement Lord Roberts Annex.

In January 2022, Vancouver City Council approved a $71-million contract to Haebler Construction Projects for building the Coal Harbour mixed-use building, including $28.4 million for the school component, $9.9 million for the childcare facility component, and $32.3 million for the social housing component.

Designed by Henriquez Partners Architects, this will be a certified Passive House green building. The first three levels will provide a 43,000 sq ft elementary school for 340 students (including a gymnasium and library), the fourth level will provide a 9,600 sq ft childcare facility for 64 kids (plus an outdoor play space on the lower rooftop), and the remaining six levels in the upper half of the building will provide 60 units of social housing.

2021 layout of the Coal Harbour elementary school, childcare, and social housing complex. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Vancouver School Board/City of Vancouver)

The May 2024 notice indicates the existing Coal Harbour Park on the rooftop of the adjacent community centre will serve the dual purpose of both the play area for Coal Harbour school students and a public park accessible by the general public. The park already has an existing playground.

It is further noted that neither VSB nor the Vancouver Park Board has allocated funding or planned improvements to student safety and security measures. Also, there are no plans to open the existing community centre to the school for shared use.

The project’s rezoning application approval in 2021 was particularly controversial for the neighbourhood, with residents at the time expressing concerns over traffic impacts, impact on park uses, visual impacts on the building form and height, and the possibility of increased crime and street disorder due to social housing.

There were also some suggestions at the time whether the City would be better off selling the prime waterfront development site, and using the significant proceeds from the land sale to build the school and social housing elsewhere.

Construction progress on the new Coal Harbour elementary school and social housing building, as of August 8, 2024. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

During the rezoning’s public hearing, City staff indicated that an elementary school and a social housing component have been planned for the site since the 1990s, but they were stalled due to a lack of funding. The site was previously used as a surface vehicle parking lot.

According to the City, the social housing component has a greater focus on family-sized units, which are defined as units with at least two bedrooms. The 60 units of social housing will have a unit size mix of six studios, 17 one-bedroom units, 23 two-bedroom units, and 11 three-bedroom units.

As for the new West End substation, BC Hydro is building this particular project to replace the aging 1950s-built Dal Grauer substation at 944 Burrard Street (next to Scotiabank Theatre). It will also provide new long-term capacity for additional residential and commercial development in the downtown Vancouver peninsula.

The Dal Grauer substation will continue to operate until the mid-2030s. BC Hydro has yet to indicate what kind of new uses the 0.3-acre lot could see after the substation is decommissioned.

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Artistic rendering of a new replacement Lord Roberts Annex elementary school on top of the completed West End underground substation at Nelson Park. (BC Hydro)

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Map of the new West End substation project at Nelson Park, and how it relates to the new additional Coal Harbour school and the new replacement Lord Roberts Annex school. (BC Hydro)

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