New $638M research and clinical support centre to be built in Vancouver

A new $638.3-million research and clinical support centre will “close the ecosystem” of research, development and patient care in Vancouver, bringing them all under one roof, according to Premier David Eby.

The facility under construction next to St. Paul’s Hospital will be connected to the hospital with a skybridge. Its 370,000 square feet of space will house several research laboratories, “state-of-the-art” infrastructure such as 3D bioprinting and other emerging technology, as well day-to-day clinical operations, training and child care spaces.

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“This building will be where we pair up this amazing research that has been happening for a long time with the work that happens in the hospital, so that British Columbians don’t just get access to quality care, they get access to cutting-edge care,” Eby said Thursday after touring what’s been built of the centre so far.

“This is where we’re going with health care in British Columbia.”

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The B.C. government will split the costs of the “state-of-the-art” centre with Providence Health Care, which is providing $215.6 million; the St. Paul’s Foundation, which is shoring up $88 million; and the ChildCare BC New Spaces Program, which is putting $3 million towards it.

Once it’s completed, a number of Providence research initiatives — the Centre for Health Lung Innovation, the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, the BC Centre on Substance Use, and more — will move into it.

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Fiona Dalton, CEO of Providence Health Care, called it a “truly transformational moment” for Canada’s life sciences industry. With patients in the same building as researchers, she said it will help close the gap between medical innovations and the bedside.

“It will facilitate the continued development of our learning health system, with patients, clinicians, scientists, researchers and health care leaders working together to discover, learn and innovate,” Dalton said.

The research centre is slated to open in late in 2028, with the new St. Paul’s Hospital set to open in 2027.

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