Coal Harbour elementary delayed to fall 2026 as costs rise and parents seek clarity

CBC News

· Posted: Nov 06, 2025 9:00 AM EST | Last Updated: November 6

A long-planned simple schoolhouse successful Vancouver’s Coal Harbour volition not unfastened successful 2025 arsenic expected and is present targeted for adjacent autumn arsenic parents pass that overcrowded classrooms crossed the metropolis are already forcing families to marque hard choices.

The City of Vancouver-led task astatine 482 Broughton St. has been slowed by tract constraints, says Coun. Pete Fry.

“It's been a situation with the precise specifics of this site, being connected the waterfront, with a erstwhile concern tract and ungraded conditions," helium said.  

Vancouver City Council approved the mixed-use task successful June 2021. It consists of a three-storey simple schoolhouse (capacity 340), 69 school-aged childcare spaces, a abstracted 65-space childcare centre for children aged 0-5 and 60 affordable rental homes.

In June 2021, Vancouver City Council approved a multi-use improvement astatine 482 Broughton St., which includes a caller simple school, child-care spaces and affordable housing. (City of Vancouver)

Fry says the tract and plan marque the physique much analyzable than a emblematic stand-alone schoolhouse and challenging ungraded conditions successful the waterfront determination person added “unforeseen” complications.

The project’s fund for the schoolhouse constituent has besides climbed. City documents amusement a $3 cardinal summation for operation contingency “due to higher tender prices arsenic a effect of unanticipated tract conditions.”

That brings the outgo estimation to $38 cardinal from $35 million. 

Parents privation timelines they tin trust

Melanie Cheng, seat of the Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC), says delays and outgo increases are eroding families’ confidence. 

“Parents request coordinated installation readying and accusation we tin trust connected truthful we tin program our lives.”

The territory says enrolment pressures downtown proceed to transcend operating capacity.

Melanie Cheng, seat of the Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council, said families request reliable accusation to program kid attraction and commuting. (CBC)

“Families are considering leaving the downtown catchment areas due to the fact that of the interest implicit deficiency of [class] spaces,” Cheng added.

The DPAC seat says galore are disquieted siblings won’t get into the aforesaid section school.

Currently, there's 1 secondary and 4 simple schools successful the city's downtown. The Vancouver School Board (VSB) says the Coal Harbour schoolhouse volition adhd 170 further seats implicit 7 classrooms.

But until it opens, students enrolled astatine the caller schoolhouse are temporarily attending classes astatine Lord Roberts Elementary and the Lord Roberts Annex. 

WATCH | Elementary schoolhouse delayed:

In 2018, the VSB approved an statement with BC Hydro to physique the West End Substation astatine the Lord Roberts Annex site. BC Hydro says the caller underground substation volition regenerate the aging Dal Grauer installation and guarantee reliable powerfulness for astir 30,000 downtown customers.

In return, the territory secured fixed backing to afloat money and physique the Coal Harbour schoolhouse and aboriginal a full-sized replacement schoolhouse astatine Lord Roberts Annex erstwhile the substation is complete. 

The Coal Harbour schoolhouse is expected to sorb students from Roberts Annex truthful the annex could beryllium demolished for the substation and, later, rebuilt arsenic a full-size simple erstwhile the inferior enactment is complete.

VSB advocating for an opening arsenic soon arsenic feasible 

When it was archetypal approved, the school's plan drew absorption from radical acrophobic astir presumption loss, spot values, imaginable crime, postulation and consultation. 

Fry says galore of those concerns person since been addressed done readying refinements. 

“The readying for this task and the enactment that’s gone into addressing a batch of those concerns person mitigated immoderate of what we were proceeding before,” helium said. “Now we’re mostly proceeding folks are anxious to spot the schoolhouse open.”

CBC News asked the metropolis for specifics connected however overmuch enactment is implicit and however overmuch remains, but it did not supply a breakdown.

The VSB stresses the metropolis is starring the task and that the committee volition “continue to advocator for an opening arsenic soon arsenic feasible.”

The metropolis says the extremity for present is to decorativeness operation by outpouring adjacent twelvemonth and get students into the seats by fall.