Canadian Design and Construction Staff writer
PCL Constructors Westcoast Inc. has installed a 136,000-kilogram skybridge connecting the new St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver with an adjacent clinical support and research facility, completing the lift four months ahead of schedule.
The two-storey, 26-metre-long structure was lifted into place in September using a 750-ton Mammoet crane. The installation advances work on the hospital campus, with the new hospital targeting an opening in February 2027 and the Clinical Support and Research Centre (CSRC) scheduled to open in 2029.
The 3.5-metre-wide skybridge will connect the hospital to the new 12-storey, 34,400-square-metre CSRC, which will accommodate research and corporate services staff, medical offices, a childcare centre and below-grade parking.
The installation was originally scheduled for January 2027. Completing it early provides additional time for integration and commissioning before the hospital opens, while reducing the potential for future disruption to the roadway between the two buildings.
The lift followed six months of prefabrication at ground level, where crews assembled structural steel, concrete decks, curtainwall glazing, roofing, fall protection anchors and exterior soffit panels.
The structure was built on custom stands engineered to replicate its final slope and loading conditions. The approach reduced stresses during erection and allowed crews to install the glazing before lifting the bridge into position.
Prefabrication also reduced the amount of work required at height above an active roadway and hospital entrance, improving safety and constructability.
The project involved co-ordination among Providence Health Care, Diamond Schmitt Architects, Glotman Simpson, Solid Rock Steel and PCL’s project teams.
“The successful installation of the skybridge demonstrates what can be achieved through innovation, collaboration and detailed planning,” said Jeff Murphy, PCL’s senior vice-president and district manager.
The connection will support movement between the hospital and research centre as part of the future health-care campus, bringing clinical care, research and support services into closer proximity.
