In anticipation of greater density in the Greater Victoria region, Island Health has published a 20-year master campus plan for the Royal Jubilee Hospital.
Jubilee’s campus straddles Saanich’s southern border with Victoria and as such, several Saanich stakeholders were brought into the hospital plan’s extensive consultation process, said Jani Urquhart of Island Health planning.
“The master campus plan is complete but it’s important for people to know it is only indicative of what we anticipate and we’ll still work with the community on anything that happens,” Urquhart said. “The size and shape of the buildings could change and we may not require this density or development in the future.”
Urquhart delivered a synopsis of the plan to Saanich council last week in order to keep the relationship strong with the District of Saanich.
Little will change on the Saanich zone of the hospital which is taken up by two Saanich-registered heritage buildings, the Memorial Pavilion (originally the Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital) and Adanac Services building (designed for the Canadian Red Cross), both completed in 1947, the hospital’s main car parkade, and B.C. Cancer Agency’s Vancouver Island Centre.
“We do anticipate improvements in [the Saanich] area by creating more of a north gateway where community members wanted better accessibility, creating more of a campus entry,” Urquhart said.
Bowker Creek is also prominent in the master campus plan as the hospital recently worked with the Victoria Green Team and Saanich to plant native trees and replace invasive species along the waterway.
“We did a lot of work with friends of Bowker Creek society, they have a blueprint in place,” Urquhart said.
During the development of the master campus plan, surrounding neighbourhood associations were consulted often.
The master campus plan does propose five new buildings in the Victoria zone of campus, but those are not necessarily going to happen, Urquhart said.
“When we say we anticipate 650 beds by 2035, this is a conceptual plan, it’s a worst case scenario to ensure [we’re prepared] for that outcome.”
The 38-page master campus plan is online at viha.ca/about_viha/news/reports/rjh-master-plan.htm.