News & Insights

In northeastern British Columbia’s Peace Region, winter temperatures have been recorded as low as −49°C or −56°F. Designing a modern healthcare facility under these conditions requires more than conventional engineering approaches. Building systems must operate reliably through extreme cold while supporting energy efficiency, patient comfort, and long-term adaptability.

The new Dawson Creek & District Hospital is being built with those realities in mind. The 263,000-square-foot, three-story facility will serve as a major healthcare hub for Northeastern British Columbia, expanding access to specialized services across a vast and sparsely populated region. Construction is currently progressing ahead of schedule, with substantial completion anticipated for 2026.

Designed to achieve LEED Gold certification, the hospital represents a comprehensive approach to high-performance healthcare infrastructure designed for the realities of a northern climate.

Salas O’Brien is providing mechanical, electrical, plumbing, lighting, security, IMIT, sustainability design, and energy modeling services for the project. Working alongside architects HDR and contractor Graham Design Builders, the multidisciplinary team developed integrated building systems that balance resilience, efficiency, and future-readiness while helping the facility perform reliably over time.

Supporting healthcare across the Peace Region

The new Dawson Creek & District Hospital will expand access to modern healthcare services throughout northeastern British Columbia. Residents across the region have historically traveled long distances for specialized care; the new facility brings a wider range of services closer to home.

The hospital will include 70 acute care beds, an 18-bed mental health unit, two operating rooms, a minor procedures room, a 15-bay emergency department, medical imaging, cancer care services, pharmacy, and academic space. The maternity unit will provide labor, delivery, recovery, and post-partum rooms along with a nursery designed to support new parents and infants.

Located on the territory of the Treaty 8 First Nations, the hospital will serve a vast and sparsely populated region, including Dawson Creek and the communities of the South Peace Region, as well as First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and urban Indigenous populations throughout the region.

That geographic context directly influenced the hospital’s design priorities. In a rural environment where access to service personnel, replacement parts, and specialized support can take time, systems must perform reliably from day one while remaining flexible as needs evolve.

Designing for extremes: climate, remoteness, and reliability

Engineering systems for Dawson Creek required a unified strategy across mechanical, electrical, envelope, and digital infrastructure, each reinforcing the hospital’s ability to operate through prolonged extreme cold and the challenges of its location.

“Every component needed to perform reliably across the full range of seasonal conditions,” says Eoin McNally, Mechanical Project Manager at Salas O’Brien. “There’s no margin for underperformance when you’re dealing with cold like this.”

The hospital’s central plant integrates three high-efficiency condensing boilers, three water-to-water chillers, and a heat reclaim chiller. Captured waste heat is returned to the heating loop, reducing boiler demand and lowering overall energy consumption. Winter-rated fluid coolers support year-round cooling for critical spaces such as operating rooms, electrical rooms, and IT infrastructure—independent of outdoor conditions.

Ventilation demand, one of the largest energy drivers in cold-climate healthcare facilities, is managed through seven recirculation air handling units, combined with two dedicated outdoor air units compliant with CSA Z317.1. Integrated enthalpy wheels recover heat and moisture from exhaust air, stabilizing humidity and reducing winter heating loads.

Envelope performance reinforces system reliability. The building incorporates triple-pane, low-E glazing, high-performance insulation, and thermal bridging analysis to evaluate real-world performance at joints and connections. A 16–18% wall-to-window ratio balances daylight access with thermal efficiency.

Electrical reliability was engineered into every level of the distribution system. As Bill Owens, P.Eng., CET, Associate at Salas O’Brien, explains, “serviceability is critical in remote locations where technical support may require significant travel time. The entire electrical infrastructure was therefore designed with full redundancy, allowing maintenance or replacement of equipment without loss of power to critical systems. Every receptacle and load in the building is supported by emergency power, supporting uninterrupted clinical operation.”

Together, these design decisions form a comprehensive resilience strategy—one that allows the hospital to remain fully operational under extreme climate conditions while minimizing operational risk.

Human-centered care in a harsh environment

While resilience was foundational, the hospital’s performance is ultimately measured by the experience of patients, families, and caregivers inside the building, particularly during long winters with limited daylight.

“From very early on, we brought the contractor, distributor, and manufacturers to the table,” notes Pedro Colicchio, B.Arch., LC, Senior Associate at Salas O’Brien, “Any modifications or special requirements were addressed immediately, and that collaboration was a key factor in the project’s success.”

The hospital employs a fully LED lighting strategy, enabling tunable white and circadian lighting solutions where they provide the most meaningful benefit. In maternity and birthing areas, circadian systems support sleep cycles, recovery, and emotional well‑being—not only for newborns and mothers, but also for families and staff.

At Dawson Creek, circadian controls extend beyond patient rooms into corridors and public spaces within the maternity ward, creating a cohesive environment that supports comfort throughout the day.

“Regardless of what’s happening outside—long nights, grey skies—you can create a more uplifting environment simply by manipulating light color and intensity,” Colicchio explains.

By prioritizing patient comfort and staff workflows over visual effects, the lighting strategy plays a subtle but powerful role in daily care delivery.

Future-ready and sustainable by design

The new Dawson Creek & District Hospital was designed not only to perform today, but to remain efficient, adaptable, and resilient as conditions change over time.

The facility is targeting an Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of 126 kBtu/ft²/year, representing a 56% reduction compared to the ASHRAE 90.1‑2010 baseline. This performance is achieved through integrated mechanical systems, heat recovery strategies, and a coordinated design approach focused on reducing operational carbon while maintaining clinical performance.

The project is targeting LEED Gold certification, achieving approximately 49% energy savings over the LEED baseline. More than 70% of annual operations are electric, with gas use limited to extreme cold events—making the hospital one of the most electrified healthcare facilities in Northeast British Columbia.

“Achieving this level of energy performance in such a cold climate is an accomplishment in itself,” says Mrigesh Roy, LEED AP BD+C, ID+C, CEM, BEMP, Sustainability & Energy Engineer at Salas O’Brien.

To support long-term performance, energy modeling incorporated future climate scenarios using 2050–2060 weather data, allowing the team to evaluate how the building will perform as conditions evolve. and sustainable material tracking further support lifecycle-focused decision-making.

Future readiness also extends to infrastructure and communications. Across electrical rooms, telecommunications spaces, and critical infrastructure, approximately 25% spare capacity was incorporated to accommodate future technologies and expanded services.

The hospital incorporates a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) capable of supporting current cellular services and future 5G technologies, providing reliable connectivity throughout the facility as digital healthcare needs grow.

Together, these measures align the hospital’s sustainability and technology strategies with future operational and clinical demands.

Integrated delivery, digital infrastructure, and resilience

Delivering a high-performance hospital in a rural, cold-climate setting required close coordination across disciplines, partners, and delivery phases.

“In a rural setting like Dawson Creek, resilience has to be built in from the very beginning,” says King Cheung, RCDD®, Vice President at Salas O’Brien. “That means thinking beyond individual systems and focusing on how technology, infrastructure, and clinical operations work together to sustain uninterrupted care and adapt over time.” That integrated mindset proved critical in navigating changing project conditions while keeping technology, infrastructure, and clinical priorities aligned.

Collaboration with Northern Health Authority and clinical users extended beyond infrastructure decisions. Salas O’Brien worked closely with project stakeholders to align technology systems with clinical and operational needs, helping support patient safety, staff response, and long-term adaptability without adding unnecessary complexity.

This collaborative delivery approach helped complex building systems function cohesively—technically, operationally, and clinically—despite the challenges of climate, distance, and schedule.

A model for cold‑climate healthcare design

The new Dawson Creek & District Hospital illustrates how complex healthcare challenges can be addressed through integrated system-level thinking. In a rural, extreme environment, performance, resilience, and adaptability were not treated as separate objectives but as interconnected design priorities.

Through its collaborative approach and deep expertise in healthcare engineering, Salas O’Brien helped translate those priorities into building systems that are reliable today and prepared for what comes next, providing a strong foundation for care delivery across the Peace Region for decades to come.

For media inquiries on this article, reach out to [email protected].