Could the massive work camp that has housed crews building British Columbia’s Site C Dam end up in the landfill?
It’s not out of the question, and it’s a prospect that has alarmed directors with the Peace River Regional District, where the $16 billion mega dam is located.
Regional district directors raised concerns at a meeting in March, after they were contacted by a company BC Hydro hired for demolition planning with questions about sorting requirements and capacity at the North Peace Regional Landfill.
“When I saw this the other day it totally caught me off guard and I’ve been involved with this right from day one,” district director Brad Sperling told the March 20 meeting.
“Never once have they ever said that this would be coming to our landfill or being demolished.”
But the camp, which housed nearly 2,000 workers while the hydroelectric dam was being built, is reaching the end of its life as the project nears completion.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
The camp, which includes dorms, kitchens and dining buildings, along with a fitness centre, gym and theatre, accounts for nearly 62,000 square metres of buildings — about 1.5 times the size of the Vancouver Convention Centre, a report concluded.
Demolition would also require the disposal of concrete slabs, asphalt and steel piles.
BC Hydro, for its part, maintains it hopes to find a new home for the camp in whole or in part.
“It has been in operation for close to a decade, it has served our workforce well. We’re at a point now on our project where we are more than 90 per cent done,” Site C public affairs manager Greg Alexis told Global News.
“Our priority is to find an organization or a company out there to take it, to repurpose it. We are in discussions right now with several.”
Since the initial request, BC Hydro says it has had more interest in the camp, and that 90 organizations have asked about the buildings.
But there are hurdles.
The structures are not well suited to conversion for social housing, as the individual units do not have kitchens or windows that open.
“At the end of the day, we need to find a project that is very similar to Site C for that facility to be reused. It was purpose-built for our workforce,” Alexis said.
Moving the structures would also be difficult. A single dorm with 80 rooms would require 30 flat-deck trailers to ship.
The regional district requested more information about the situation from BC Hydro, which responded, saying if it can’t find a buyer, it will finalize a decommissioning plan with costs, to present to the board.
The Crown corporation expects the facility to be occupied until the end of the summer, when the dam comes fully online.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
