Nearly a full decade after it first opened its relocated and expanded Canada Post Pacific Processing Centre at Vancouver International Airport (YVR), a major expansion of the facility is now being eyed. Canada Post is looking to construct a new building immediately west of the 2014-built processing centre at 5940 Ferguson Road, which is located north of the North Runway. The existing building is already one of British Columbia’s single largest warehouse/logistics-style industrial buildings. According to the federal government’s project description, the new west building will contain new processing equipment for parcel and package sorting, office space, docking and parking spaces for trucks and trailers, and employee parking. Pre-construction activities will include land clearing, pre-load for geotechnical stability, excavation, and grading.
“This expansion project is required by Canada Post to address capacity, growth, and improving service,” reads the project description. “The new building will be designed to be highly energy efficient, and to meet the Canada Green Building Council’s Zero Carbon Building Standard with a net zero carbon design. It will be designed for accessibility according to universal design standards. The Project will aim to divert 90% of construction and demolition waste.”
Last week, the federal government’s Impact Assessment Agency issued a bulletin announcing that Canada Post and Vancouver Airport Authority can now proceed with the Canada Post Pacific Processing Centre Expansion as it is “not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.”
Currently, the project has highly limited details, and no design has been released to the public yet.
“We have been in discussions with Canada Post for a potential expansion of their facility on Sea Island. This impact assessment is part of the regular course of planning for projects of this nature. As discussions with Canada Post are ongoing, we do not have details to share at this time,” reads a statement to Daily Hive Urbanized by Vancouver Airport Authority upon inquiry today. As well, Canada Post also told Daily Hive Urbanized that it “is constantly reviewing the needs for capacity in its network to serve the country.”
Currently, the Vancouver Airport Authority and Metro Vancouver Regional District are in the process of completely relocating and rebuilding Ferguson Road west of the Canada Post facility in order to create larger airside development parcels for the Northlands Greenfield Land. The new roadway, which will reach completion in Summer 2024, will also serve as the access route for heavy trucks reaching the construction site of the new $10-billion Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant. In 2021, YVR announced its plan to develop vacant strips of land — totalling several hundred acres to the north of the North Runway and to the south of the South Runway — for trade-enabling warehouse, logistic, light industrial, and commercial uses. These uses would complement YVR’s aviation operations and provide the airport authority with more ancillary revenue.
(Source: DailyHive – Vancouver, Kenneth Chan. Photo/GoogleMaps)