Premier David Eby and Health Minister Adrian Dix toured the site of the new Surrey Hospital and BC Cancer Centre Monday, one year since the construction began.
Eby says the scale of the work that the teams are doing on building the new hospital is “epic.”
“The work that’s happening on this site is ensuring that this hospital will withstand any earthquake, that it will be there for emergency response and also it’s going to stand for a hundred years,” he said.
The new hospital is one of many healthcare projects that are in progress in Surrey, including an acute care tower, cardiac cath-lab, radiology suits and a renal hemodialysis building at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
“It’s really an extraordinary effort to build, really, the first hospital. Because are doing a lot of hospital replacement projects, about eighteen. But this is a stand-alone hospital that people of Surrey needs,” said B.C.’s Health Minister Adrian Dix.
The new Surrey hospital is likely to be a hot-button issue in the upcoming provincial election. In 2012, when now-BC United Leader Kevin Falcon was Minister of Finance, he sold the land where a second hospital for Surrey was supposed to be built.
“I hear continual complaints from Kevin Falcon and John Rustad about provincial spending on capital projects. We are, right now, building to make sure our population is supported as it grows at a record level,” said Eby.
Surrey is the Lower Mainland’s fastest-growing city. It is in desperate need of a new hospital especially because staff at the Surrey Memorial Hospital have sounded the alarm several times about the hospital operating in crisis mode, with staff shortages and alleged unsafe conditions.
The construction of the hospital is set to be complete by 2029 and open in early 2030.
The hospital is expected to bring 168 hospital beds and a second emergency department in the community with 55 treatment spaces.