'We have to build,' Dix says, as cost of Richmond Hospital redevelopment doubles

The estimated cost to expand Richmond Hospital has more than doubled, but the B.C. government remains committed to the project, Health Minister Adrian Dix announced Tuesday.

The reconstruction of the facility – a four-phase project currently near the end of Phase 1 – is now expected to cost $1.959 billion, more than twice the $860 million previously estimated at the start of Phase 1 in 2020.

Dix attributed the increase to rising construction costs, which have also driven up the price of hospital construction projects in Surrey, Burnaby and elsewhere.

The health minister likened the Richmond project to the ongoing work at Burnaby Hospital, which is also a phased reconstruction and is expected to cost about $2.4 billion in total. 

Dix acknowledged that the $1.1-billion jump in the cost of the Richmond project is "undoubtedly a significant cost increase," but stressed that the redevelopment is worth doing.

"Richmond deserves this project," he said. "I hear voices out there that say we should reduce the scope of the project. This is going to serve a growing community for decades and decades to come. We are going to build it, and we have budgeted to do exactly that."

Tuesday's cost announcement came alongside the start of a "request for qualifications" to build Phase 2 of the Richmond Hospital project, which primarily consists of the new Yurkovich Family Pavilion.

The RFQ will allow Vancouver Coastal Health to select up to three proponents, who will then be invited to participate in the "alliance development agreement" and "request for proposals" stage.

Construction on Phase 2 of the project is expected to begin in 2026 and be completed in 2029, with the full reconstruction effort – including Phases 3 and 4 – projected to finish in 2031, according to the province.

The project is expected to add 113 more hospital beds to the facility, increasing its total from 246 to 359. It will also add emergency department spaces and three new operating rooms, for a total of 11.

Dix described Phase 2 of the project as the "most significant and important phase."

He also criticized the former BC Liberal government, without invoking the party now known as BC United by name, for failing to invest in new health-care facilities when costs were lower.

"The decision to delay those projects, to not invest in public health care prior to 2017, means that costs have gone up," Dix said. "But we have to build. The idea that it's going to get cheaper in the future, or that our great health-care workers in Richmond shouldn't work in an outstanding new hospital, is not our direction. We are going to build this project."