Ruairi Spillane
Founder Outpost Recruitment
Let’s take a look at the hotspots that most requires skills across Canada’s healthcare boom. Federal investment in healthcare is now at unprecedented levels post Covid. With less healthcare projects now procured under design build lump sum model, Canada’s healthcare sector is seeing a rapid switch to collaborative models such as Alliance and Progressive Design Build (PDB) which seek to better align risk.
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Hot spots
The provinces of Alberta (AB), British Colombia (BC), Ontario (ON) and Quebec (QC), represent the most populous provinces / territories in Canada and see the most investment. The Greater Toronto Area within Ontario is home to 7 million people so have a wide area of healthcare projects including the mega $13.9bn Mississauga Hospital and South Niagara Hospital ($1bn). Greater Vancouver has 5 major hospital construction projects underway currently between St Pauls Hospital ($2.1bn), Burnaby Phase 1 ($700m), Burnaby Phase 2, Surrey Hospital and Richmond Hospital with Royal Columbian Hospital and Lion’s Gate recently completed. The province of Quebec has Vaudreuil-Soulanges Hospital ($2.5bn) in Montreal and Quebec City University Hospital ($2bn) projects underway.
If regional cities are your jam, then Canada has lots on offer with many regional cities and towns receiving investment. This includes Ottawa Hospital ($2bn) now underway in Canada’s capital city, Halifax Infirmary Expansion on the East Coast, Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops ($359m), Prince George Hospital ($2bn) in Northern BC which is in procurement currently or Red Deer Hospital ($1.8bn) can offer you a quieter city location in Alberta relative to Calgary and Edmonton.
If rural projects are preferred, Canada can offer Weeneebayko Area Health Authority Redevelopment (WAHA, $1.6bn) in remote Northern Ontario breaking ground in Q2 2025 or Caribou Memorial Hospital which is lining up Phase 2 of a $500m project.
What skills are needed
Our clients who include engineering firms, consultants, general contractors and subcontractors are always seeking suitable healthcare professionals execute on these major projects:
- Estimating / Pursuits / Bid Management – Business development, proposal writing and estimating skills are required to accurately capture risks involved in these major projects
- Project Management – From executive level downwards, the client and all the various stakeholders have leaders resonsbiltiies for managing the complex processes
- Planning & Scheduling – Often 4-5 years schedule, these project are constantly increasing in complexity and timeline
- Design Management – With significant front-end design stages, technical skills are required
- Civil / Structural – Large scale buildings often high-rise are required skilled construction managers to execute. Project Directors / Project Managers / Construction Managers
- Site Management – Superintendents / Field Engineers that can deal with design build delivery
- Commercial Management – Alliance and Progressive Design Build projects create more complexity with prime contract and subcontracts to be proactively managed over time
- MEP / MEIT – healthcare represents some of the more complex building system, especially when it comes to IT aspects of the buildings
- BIM – major buildings projects with lots of pipework represents huge opportunities for digital modelling
- Furniture, Equipment & Design – niche opportunities created due to complexity of stakeholder management in healthcare projects
Visit our Healthcare Project Tracker to view Canada’s major healthcare and hospital construction projects in 2025.
Looking for a role in Canada's construction sector?
We match construction and engineering professionals with Canada's leading construction and engineering firms.
Ruairi Spillane
Founder Outpost Recruitment
