The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority delivers medical services to more than 1.25 million British Columbia residents, nearly 25% of the province’s population. This project will improve patient access to surgery and expand the Vancouver General Hospital’s Phil and Jennie Gaglardi Surgical Centre.

We are upgrading the third floor of the hospital to build 16 new operating rooms with all the necessary support services, including state-of-the-art lighting and a patient tracking system. The expansion also includes a new elevator and a replacement of all the mechanical and electrical services.

Throughout this project we are prioritizing the patients. This upgrade will reduce wait times for surgeries and ensure fewer cancellations. It will also optimize surgical outcomes and reduce recovery time. The hospital’s main goal is a bright, safe and comfortable environment, aiming for a better overall patient experience. 

We created the new operating rooms to be universal, meaning they have identical dimensions, orientation and equipment. This decision makes a huge difference in the medical world. Because all the rooms are the same, medical staff will walk into the room and know exactly where everything is without second guessing the layout and placement of tools. 

Before we started construction on the 16 operating rooms, the hospital required an on-site mockup to experience. We built the OR prototype in an active construction zone and approached it as a project within a project, with its own construction schedule. Tradespeople worked on flooring, painting and millwork finishes while workers on the other side of the OR walls were still wielding structural steel. A full-scale multidisciplinary surgical team reviewed the OR mock-up before we completed the final rooms.

This monumental project will shape the future of surgery at the hospital and we can’t wait to see how it benefits the people of British Columbia.