In 2019, the City of Vancouver debuted the groundbreaking Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) policy. Buy Social Canada currently serves as the Independent Third-Party Monitor on two active CBA projects in Vancouver: New St. Paul’s Hospital and 150 West Georgia developments. These projects have committed to achieve community benefits through local procurement, social procurement, and local workforce diversity. This is an update to the community on the New St. Paul’s Hospital project.

On 18.4 acres, the New St. Paul’s Hospital will triple the size of the current St. Paul’s Hospital located on Burrard Street and is cited as “one of the largest hospital redevelopment projects in BC’s history.” This project boasts LEED Gold compliance; climate disaster resilience; and many specialized subtrades to deliver innovative healthcare for the most vulnerable people in the community, including the elderly and those with HIV/AIDS, mental health illnesses, chronic illnesses, substance abuse, and critical conditions along with many other acute care departments. All of these services contribute to the project’s considerable budget of $2.18 billion.

The New St. Paul’s Hospital project has the potential to contribute significant benefits to the Vancouver community given the project vision, scope, and budget. This update outlines the commendable efforts of the project team to deliver positive community outcomes through their hiring and procurement activities. There is much to celebrate and much to strive for as the development progresses and evolves.

New St. Paul’s Hospital

The New St. Paul’s Hospital, owned by Providence Health Care, was the first project to trigger the City of Vancouver’s CBA policy. The construction of this innovative new hospital is highly complex and is led by PCL Construction as the general contractor.

Construction began in the Spring of 2021 and the hospital is set to open to the public in the Summer of 2027. The new hospital will have 548 inpatient beds, increasing the total number of beds from the current hospital by 25%.

This project is working to achieve the following targets:

• Local, inclusive employment: Make 10% of new jobs on the development available to people in Vancouver first, specifically those who are equity-seeking (referred to in the policy as First Source Hiring).
• Social procurement: Source a minimum of 10% of material goods and services from third party certified social impact or diverse or equity-seeking owned businesses, with a priority on Vancouver businesses.
• Local procurement: Attain 10% of materials, goods, and services from Vancouver companies or companies located in Metro Vancouver or British Columbia. These may or may not also be equity-seeking third party certified businesses.

The CBA data below includes data from Providence Health Care, PCL Construction, and all major subcontractors whose contracts exceed $500,000 for the period of February 2021 to February 2024. The data shows that the New St. Paul’s Hospital project is exceeding CBA targets for both employment and local procurement.

The project is just short of meeting the social procurement target but has continued to show evidence of best efforts to meet the target, especially with smaller spends. While small spends do not show up as significantly in a percentage, they can have an impact in local communities as many of the smaller spends on this project have been with social enterprises and other local small businesses.

Local and Inclusive Employment

To date, 43% of new employees have voluntarily self-identified as belonging to an equity-seeking group. Of those equity-seeking hires, 12% live in postal codes most local to the project in Vancouver’s city core.

New employees have filled a variety of roles, including hourly and salaried positions. The total number of new hires is expected to continue to increase after construction is completed and Providence Health Care looks to staff the hospital for ongoing operations.

Local Procurement

The local procurement target continues to be exceeded in year three. $172.6 million, 17% of the project’s total spend, has been procured from suppliers within Vancouver’s city core. Approximately $12.4 million specifically went to suppliers in the Downtown Eastside.

Additionally, only 24% of the project spend was spent outside of British Columbia. This means that 76% of the total project procurement was spent within the province.

Social Procurement

In year three of construction, the New St. Paul’s Hospital is 1% short of the social procurement target. $90.3 million, 9% of the total project spend, has been procured from social enterprises, social impact businesses, and diverse/equity-seeking owned businesses.

There is work to be done to meet the social procurement target, however, the social procurement dollar value, as well as the efforts of the project team to build long-term relationships with social value suppliers, illustrates how the CBA has increased social procurement awareness and activities with Providence Health Care, PCL, and all the involved subcontractors. When relationships with social value suppliers are built and maintained, the potential for social procurement can grow as work scopes and the overall project progress over time.

Beyond the Target

The City of Vancouver’s CBA policy goes beyond reporting on quantitative data. Considerable qualitative stories of impact that are not captured in the target data continue to come out of the work from the New St. Paul’s Hospital project. These examples seek to honour the spirit of the CBA and create benefits for local social enterprises, workforce development agencies, and their communities.

The New St. Paul’s Hospital project team has procured an estimated $12.4 million from businesses in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Of that, approximately $1.2 millionwent to Buy Social Canada Certified Social Enterprises located in the Downtown Eastside. These businesses reinvest the majority of their profits into their social missions. This gives important context to the quantitative data above: when CBA targets are set to be aspirational and achievable, significant financial support flows to the local community and has real impact on the lives of residents.

Binners’ Project

Binners’ Project is a Certified Social Enterprise with the mission to reduce stigma and improve economic opportunities for waste collectors. Binners’ Project currently works with Providence Healthcare to pick up refundable waste from the New St. Paul’s Hospital site and sort waste at the current St. Paul’s Hospital, with the hope that this work can continue through the New St. Paul’s Hospital’s operational phase.

CleanStart Property Services

Several subcontractors on the New St. Paul’s Hospital project hold ongoing contracts with CleanStart Property Services, another Certified Social Enterprise which employs people facing barriers to employment. CleanStart provides regular janitorial cleaning to on-site trailers and has expanded their scope of work to include hazardous waste removal services. Between March 2023 and April 2024, CleanStart’s continuous contracts have provided 168 hours of supportive employment.

“It means a lot for us to be trusted by our clients at the New St Paul’s Hospital project to be on site every week providing professional cleaning services. As a social enterprise employing people experiencing barriers to employment, we often have to deal with the stigmas that some clients may have, but we have felt welcome on the project since day one.” – Alex Bodin, Operations Manager at CleanStart Property Services

EMBERS Staffing

EMBERS Staffing is a Certified Social Enterprise and temporary staffing agency based in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. PCL Construction works with EMBERS on the New St. Paul’s Hospital to strengthen EMBERS’ mission to create employment and economic opportunities for people facing barriers. EMBERS has placed over 50 workers with PCL, several of which have moved onto PCL’s payroll long-term, to work on the New St. Paul’s Hospital development. A General Labourer from EMBERS Staffing who is working on the New St. Paul’s Hospital has this to say:

“Being an immigrant is a massive challenge because you must start everything from scratch. We have three kids, and it was critical to get a job as soon as we landed in Canada. EMBERS made this possible and immediately gave me a work opportunity with PCL, even though I had yet to gain construction experience. Working at PCL through EMBERS has been a life-changing experience for our family. (…) I appreciate the support from both companies, they have made our Canadian experience less stressful and filled it with great expectations and hope.”

Buy Social Canada Supports CBA Implementation

Buy Social Canada offers reporting solutions and implementation support to the owners, general contractors, and key subcontractors on both the New St. Paul’s Hospital and 150 West Georgia projects as the Independent Third-Party Monitor. With a strong on-the-ground network in Vancouver, Buy Social Canada regularly facilitates connections between the construction industry and those who can help them meet the CBA targets.

To support the employment target, Buy Social Canada hosts an Employment Opportunities Meeting  each quarter. These meetings offer space for employment organizations and construction employers to share stories of success, upcoming job fairs, requests for construction employers to speak at job-seeker events, and potential grants which employers and their apprentices might be eligible for. Buy Social Canada also hosts quarterly Vancouver Social Procurement Roundtables aimed to support the social procurement targets. These sessions facilitate relationships and connections between the construction industry and social value suppliers.

The City of Vancouver’s Community Benefits Agreement policy recognizes that large-scale development projects influence our communities beyond the physical structures they build. The active projects under this policy have proven that we can leverage opportunities in construction to create intentional benefits such as strengthening local businesses, increasing social value, and supporting a diverse workforce.

Buy Social Canada is available to support construction owners and contractors with social procurement and CBA implementation. We work nationally and can ensure that project teams have the resources needed to reach social procurement targets.

Work with us to implement community benefits in construction or read Buy Social Canada’s Community Benefits in Construction Guide to learn more about our approach.