Two qualified teams have been selected to participate in the RFP to build the new BC Cancer Centre at Royal Inland Hospital: EllisDon Corporation, and PCL Constructors Westcoast Inc.

Following the evaluation of RFP submissions, Interior Health and BC Cancer will choose the project’s design-build team. It is expected the team will be chosen by May 2025, with construction beginning summer 2025.

“As we move through the procurement process for the new Kamloops cancer centre, we are another step closer to starting construction,” said Susan Brown, president and CEO, Interior Health. “Together with BC Cancer, we are looking forward to bringing expanded cancer services to patients and their families in a new modern space.”

The new Kamloops cancer centre will be a five-storey facility built on the Westlands site on the hospital campus. There will be space for radiation treatment, radiation-therapy planning, including a CT simulator, an outpatient ambulatory-care unit, including 10 exam rooms, and two consultation rooms for radiation-therapy services, an additional MRI suite, and patient arrival and check-in areas.

The centre will have three linear accelerator vaults. These heavy, concrete structures contain radiation equipment used for cancer-patient treatment.

In collaboration with Indigenous partners, there will also be a sacred space for patients, caregivers and staff, with features to support traditional ceremonies.

A new 470-stall parkade will also be built as part of the centre.

In addition, upgrades to the hospital to expand cancer care have been approved, which include updating and expanding the pharmacy, and relocation and expansion of the community oncology network clinic from the eighth floor to the main floor, with more space and improved access.

The new Kamloops cancer centre project budget is $359 million, shared between the provincial government and the Thompson Regional Hospital District.