How the Richmond community of care is reimagining low carbon cooling infrastructure and planning for the future.
Health-care facilities are increasingly exposed to the impacts of climate change. Rising temperatures, longer heat waves, and aging infrastructure are growing complexities that Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) must navigate as it continues to deliver high-quality care while protecting patient safety, staff wellbeing, and service continuity.
There are also increasing requirements for health-care organizations to integrate climate projections into long-term planning. We need to comply with these new requirements while still maintaining patient care as our top priority.
The VCH Richmond Cooling Infrastructure Strategy illustrates how health systems can respond and advance both sustainability and clinical resilience through proactive and holistic infrastructure planning.
From Vancouver to Richmond and beyond: Scaling a Proven Model
Building on earlier work in the Vancouver community of care, the Richmond Cooling Strategy expands a broader regional approach to low-carbon cooling and climate adaptation. The initiative reviews existing electrical systems, building performance during high temperatures, and long-term adaptation planning for cooling needs.
Maher Ayach, the Facilities Maintenance and Operations Supervisor and champion of this study in the Richmond community of care, emphasizes the benefits of this initiative for his team.
This work gives us the insights we need to prioritize the right solutions, improve airflow and comfort for patients, staff and medical staff, and ensure our equipment is prepared for future climate conditions. It strengthens our day‑to‑day operations, allowing us to move from reacting to issues as they arise to planning upgrades and maintenance with confidence, while helping us make smarter long-term decisions for the Richmond community of care.”
Data-Driven Cooling and Climate Adaptation
A defining strength of the strategy is its data-driven methodology.
Sub-metering and chilled water flow monitoring were installed to capture real-time cooling demand during peak summer months.
Previous years’ utility consumption data was overlaid with weather data to understand the cooling system’s performance during extreme heat, with findings further supported by site visits and facilities operations staff insights.
The analysis also revealed important system insights. In some facilities, some areas of the building were overheating despite the fact that cooling equipment was on. This revealed that the issue isn’t always the lack of cooling, but how effectively the available cooled air is delivered throughout the building.
In these cases, addressing airflow systems first was more effective than immediately upsizing the cooling equipment, which would actually be expensive and unnecessary. This reinforces the value of whole-system planning.
Staff and Patient Voices
The Energy & Environmental Sustainability team, who developed the cooling strategy and managed implementation, broadened engagement beyond maintenance and capital planning teams to include medical staff and patient experience groups.
This is the first time the groups’ perspectives informed future planning in this type of process. Patient and medical staff experiences surfaced important insights on thermal comfort and indoor air quality, validating the importance of the work for quality care delivery.
Benefits and Future Planning
Beyond infrastructure improvements, the initiative is building organizational capacity in an innovative area.
Each study and process informs the design of the next, creating an iterative model where the lessons learned are now expanding to additional sites in the Coastal community of care. A growing cross-site Cooling Projects Community of Practice shares information, collaborates and learns from each others’ cooling projects.
As climate projections become embedded in planning for 2050 conditions, Richmond’s work signals a critical shift: cooling is no longer just a facilities issue, it’s central to climate resilience, quality care, and low carbon health-care transformation.
