February 2025 marked the four-year anniversary of the $2.18 billion New St. Paul’s Hospital project, the first construction project to trigger the City of Vancouver’s ground-breaking Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) policy. The CBA policy was passed in 2018 while the Honourable Gregor Robertson – now Minister of Housing and Infrastructure – served as mayor of the City of Vancouver. The policy applies to all redevelopment projects over 45,000 square metres and requires that project owners and key contractors show best efforts as they work to achieve targets for local procurement, social procurement, and local workforce diversity.

Local community members and organizations in Vancouver, and particularly in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, played a pivotal role in advocating for and supporting the design of the CBA policy. Exchange Inner City previously convened a Community Benefits Network (CBN) which played an important role in advocacy, advice, and accountability. While the CBN is not currently active in Vancouver, community stakeholders continue to play a crucial role in ensuring the accountability and success of the CBA through engagement at the Vancouver Social Procurement Roundtable and individual and organizational advocacy and implementation support. The outcomes from active CBAs continue to be shared publicly on an annual basis by Buy Social Canada.

Buy Social Canada, as the Independent Third Party Monitor on the New St. Paul’s Hospital project, supports community benefits implementation through measurement, reporting, stakeholder engagement, and supply and demand matching for goods, services, and labour.

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 subcontractors 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.

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%. The project is owned by Providence Health Care, with PCL Construction as the Design-Builder.

The New St. Paul’s CBA aims to harness the project’s considerable size and budget to contribute additional benefits to the Vancouver community. This is the fourth annual update on the project’s progress on these community benefits which 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.

CBAs are a catalyst to create demand for diverse businesses and social value suppliers. Beyond creating demand, changes in culture, processes and the building of new relationships are all required to successfully implement CBAs. Many of the best efforts activities the New St. Paul’s Hospital project has reported on for the last four years, including engagement at events such as the Social Procurement Roundtable and trade shows, and the testing and piloting of contracts with social value suppliers, have led to sustainable, and sometimes increasing, contracts for social value suppliers in Vancouver. The project continues to show a commitment to best efforts activities to contribute to ongoing capacity building and longer-term impacts.

Project Creates Community Benefits

The New St. Paul’s Hospital 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 2025.

At the end of Year 4, the New St. Paul’s Hospital Project is meeting the local procurement target and not meeting the employment and social procurement targets. Despite this, Providence Health Care (PHC), PCL Construction, and key subcontractors have demonstrated sustained effort and commitment to implement the CBA policy. Their willingness to adapt, collaborate, and improve internal processes illustrates the growing institutional awareness and capacity to implement social value policies in large-scale construction.

Local Procurement

For the fourth year in a row, local procurement spend continues to exceed the target. As of February 2025, $210 million, or 12% of the project’s total spend, has been procured from suppliers within Vancouver’s city core.

With the current increased push to support local economies in the context of climate crises, tariffs, and other challenges for local supply chains, this project is an example of what’s possible when large construction projects prioritize supporting local within existing budgets.

$23 million of the project spend has specifically gone to businesses in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, one of the poorest postal codes in Canada.

Additionally, only 17% of the project spend was spent outside of British Columbia. The remaining 83% of project spend has the potential to recirculate within British Columbian communities, strengthening local economies.

Local and Inclusive Employment

To date, 35% of all new employees have voluntarily self-identified as belonging to an equity-seeking group. Of those equity-seeking hires, 9% 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, apprenticeships, and students.

The percentage of local, inclusive employment has dropped 3% since last year. Some possible explanations could be the lack of affordability in Vancouver’s city core. While the employment target aims to prioritize hiring from Vancouver’s poorest neighbourhoods, many of the city core postal codes are also some of the most expensive places to live in Canada. In addition, 97% of the major reporting subcontractors on the project are located outside of the city core.  Both of these factors suggest that major subcontractor staff could be more likely to live outside the city core for greater affordability and proximity to their workplace.

Although just short of the target, the 9% of new hires that have self-identified as being part of an equity-seeking group and who live in the most local postal codes represents 220 people.

Communicating that local, inclusive hiring is a priority on the project can send a larger message that the local construction sector is working towards being a more safe and accepting workplace for equity-seeking individuals. These conversations continue to be facilitated through Buy Social Canada hosted Employment Opportunity meetings where hiring practices are discussed between employment agencies who work to place qualified, equity-seeking individuals into meaningful jobs, and the project-specific construction teams who are encouraged by the CBA to hire these individuals.

Social Procurement

As of February 2025, $99.1 million, or 6% of the project spend, has gone to social value suppliers, including social enterprises and Indigenous and diverse owned businesses. While 4% short of the target, this is a significant dollar value for the social value suppliers that do important work to provide jobs for people with barriers to employment and benefit the community through their social, environmental, or cultural purpose.

As the New St. Paul’s Hospital project enters its final stages of construction, procurement opportunities are increasingly limited to specialized scopes.

Opportunities to procure from social enterprises, social impact businesses, and equity-seeking owned businesses must still be prioritized through the final stages of construction in order to meet the 10% social procurement target.

While the project is not currently meeting the percentage target of the CBA, the current percentage of social procurement does not necessarily reflect the level of on-the-ground impact being created.

PHC, PCL and key subcontractors on the project have shared that the CBA policy has increased their social procurement awareness and encouraged their relationship-building with social value suppliers. A number of the contracts with social value suppliers have spanned multiple years on the project, with some contracts, for example with Certified Social Enterprises CleanStart Property Services and EMBERS Staffing, growing from initial contracts with one key subcontractor into ongoing contracts with multiple subcontractors on the project.

Community Benefit Outcomes

The New St. Paul’s Hospital project team has procured an estimated $23 million from businesses in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, approximately $3.8 million of which specifically went to Downtown Eastside-based Buy Social Canada Certified Social Enterprises. Buy Social Canada certified Social enterprises have a social, environmental or cultural purpose and reinvest the majority of their profits or surplus back into their social, environmental, or cultural purpose.

While the project continues to strive toward the targets, the qualitative impacts of the CBA should not be overlooked. Purchases from social value suppliers have ripple effects in the community beyond the immediate dollar spend, and a meaningful, inclusive job can have multiplier effects beyond the wages paid.

The CBA has created and strengthened social procurement champions in the construction sector and beyond. Both PHC and PCL Construction have created long-term relationships and partnerships with local social enterprises and other social value suppliers that will last beyond this CBA – or have already been adopted on other projects and sites.

The following best efforts examples honour the spirit of the CBA and create benefits for local social enterprises, workforce development agencies, and their communities.

Binners’ Project

Binners’ Project is a Certified Social Enterprise with the mission to improve economic opportunities and reduce the stigma against informal recyclable collectors. Binners’ Project went on a tour of the New St. Paul’s Hospital site as part of their potential continued work with Providence Healthcare once the new hospital is operational.

“The new St. Paul’s project has provided valuable, consistent opportunities for Binners’ Project, allowing Binners to take part in shaping waste diversion strategies at a major health facility. Binners have been on-site monthly for refundable collection and ongoing relationship-building with Providence Healthcare (PHC) staff. (…) This long-term partnership with PHC has fostered organizational sustainability, allowing Binners’ Project to scale its impact and support more people needing low-barrier, reliable work, with commitment from both PHC and Binners’ Project to continue this work once the new St. Paul’s location is operational.” – Sean Miles, Director, Binners’ Project

For the past two years, Binner’s has provided waste sorting services six days per week at the old St. Paul’s Hospital. As a result of this procurement relationship between Providence Health Care and Binners’ Project, Binners’ has also been brought on site to PHC’s other hospital, Mount Saint Joseph’s.

“I’m proud to say that we’re the only large acute care hospital in BC that has their waste taken to recycling facilities, and that’s in large part due to the work done by the Binners’.” – Benson Low, Director of Environmental Services, Providence Health Care

Binners’ Project nominated PHC for a Buy Social Canada 2025 Social Procurement Champion Award in recognition of their work to increase social procurement opportunities for social enterprises at New St. Paul’s Hospital and beyond, and PHC was one of three award winners.

CleanStart Property Services

CleanStart Property Services is a local social enterprise that employs people facing barriers to employment. They have been providing property and cleaning services to PCL subcontractors A&H Steel, Covertite, Plan Group, and Modern Niagara consistently throughout Year 4 of the New St. Paul’s Hospital project. They first began work on site in November 2021.

CleanStart reports that the contracts with these key subcontractors on New St. Paul’s Hospital have allowed them to provide 353.5 hours of supportive employment on regular trailer cleanings between March 2024 and February 2025.

EMBERS Staffing

EMBERS Staffing Solutions is a Certified Social Enterprise and temporary staffing agency based in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. EMBERS Staffing has provided day labour and staffing solutions for the construction of the New St. Paul’s Hospital project since 2022, with a cumulative contract value of over $2.5 million from PCL and several subcontractors on the project.

Between March 2024 to February 2025, EMBERS placed 187 individuals facing barriers to economic opportunities at New St. Paul’s Hospital, with anywhere from 20-40 people on-site most days. In this same time period, these EMBERS Staffing workers have worked a total of 51,223.5 hours on the project, the equivalent of 25 full-time workers.

“The Community Benefit Agreement (CBA) on the New St. Paul’s Hospital project has had a measurable social impact on the lives of EMBERS Staffing workers. (…) This highlights the power of CBAs to not only meet labour demands but also reduce systemic barriers to employment by creating intentional opportunities for underrepresented groups. By embedding social equity into procurement agreements, CBAs demonstrate that projects like this can and should generate social value alongside [economic] benefits.” – Marcia Nozick, Founder and CEO, EMBERS

EMBERS Staffing team leader Carlos Iván Ubario Ramos had previous experience in construction and began working with PCL through EMBERS on tasks that required the handling of materials and their preparation, managing tools, making applications, and interpreting blueprints. It only took a few months for Carlos to show the team his skills, after which he was promoted to EMBERS’ workers team leader. After several months of developing his English proficiency with colleagues and people from other trades, Carlos was ready for more work where he could grow further.

“The truth is that if organizations like EMBERS did not exist, many of us would not have the opportunity to establish ourselves and be part of society in this country.” – Carlos Iván Ubario Ramos, EMBERS worker team leader

Large-scale development projects influence our communities beyond the physical structures they build. The active projects under this policy continue to prove 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 Supports CBA Implementation

Buy Social Canada offers reporting solutions and implementation support to the owners, general contractors, and key subcontractors on the New St. Paul’s Hospital and several other CBA construction projects in Vancouver 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.

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.