Three times the size of the existing facility, the new Quw'utsun Valley Hospital (formerly Cowichan District Hospital Replacement Project) on Vancouver Island will reflect BC’s new model for integrated healthcare by placing patients, families and communities at the centre of care decisions throughout the continuum of care. The goal is to reduce wait times, improve care and outcomes, and provide better value for healthcare expenditures.

HH Angus is part of the design team under The EllisDon Healthcare Infrastructure Consortium, and is providing mechanical and electrical consulting engineering to the 607,000+ ft2 project. The new facility, with an estimated budget of $1.44 Billion, will have 204 private or semi-private beds to support best practices for infection prevention and control, with the capacity for increased beds as population growth warrants. The emergency department will be three times the size of the current ER and is expected to accommodate 42,000 visits by 2035.  Additional services include mental health facilities featuring a 20-bed inpatient unit and dedicated ICU, culturally safe services and spaces, 7 operating rooms, increased CT scanning capacity, and built-in MRI facilities.

Island Health specified a low energy, low carbon design solution. HH Angus, working with the rest of the design team, devised a number of innovative solutions. The project is now Canada’s first CaGBC-certified 'Zero Carbon Building - Design Standard' hospital and is aiming to be the country's first fully electric hospital. As well, the project is targeting LEED Gold certification.

Sustainability has been at the core of the decision-making process for this project, with a focus on carbon reduction. Its ZCB – Design™ certification reflects achieving a 38% embodied carbon reduction from baseline and, as the first all-electric healthcare facility in British Columbia, the CDHRP’s design has an operational energy performance that significantly surpasses its target.

The design strategies focused on reducing the project's embodied carbon emissions, maximizing energy efficiency, electrifying the mechanical systems, using new-generation low GWP refrigerants, and designing an optimized PV array. The project also uses an air-source heat pump and electric hot water boilers.

This is the first Alliance Project Delivery for HH Angus, with many differences from a conventional project delivery model. It is a far more collaborative process, where the owner, contractor and design team act as one entity. Both the quality of the submitted design and the ability of the team to work together were key factors in the proponent evaluation.

The project is also the first hospital in BC to be certified 'Salmon Safe' for its watershed protection efforts, including reduced water use, on-site stormwater treatment, use of native and drought-tolerant trees, shrubs and plants, as well as enhancing and protecting important wetland ecosystems.