InEight Customer Project Spotlight
808 Royal
New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
The 808 Royal Project is a $242 million academic and student housing development for Douglas College in downtown New Westminster, British Columbia. The 20-storey, 75-meter-tall building combines modern academic space with 244 student housing units providing 369 beds, helping address both campus expansion and the growing demand for affordable student housing. Designed as a mixed-use academic community, the project integrates educational facilities, residential space, and public areas to support student life in the heart of the city.
Owner: Douglas College | Est Completion Date: 12/01/2027 | Project type: Buildings
More About This Project:
The 808 Royal development expands Douglas College’s campus by combining 10 storeys of academic space with 13 storeys of student housing, creating a vertically integrated campus environment in downtown New Westminster. The project provides more than 24,700 square meters of academic space alongside housing designed for 369 students, helping meet growing enrolment demand while also supporting the city’s need for additional affordable housing. The building is located within the city’s Tower Precinct — an area considered the institutional heart of New Westminster — requiring the project to carefully balance density with neighbourhood integration and public accessibility.
Constructing the building on a steep, tightly constrained urban site created several logistical challenges. The project is bordered by two major roadways and required careful coordination with the city and utility providers to relocate overhead power lines underground before crane installation could begin. The team also sequenced excavation and foundation work strategically to maintain construction momentum while navigating limited site access and traffic management requirements.
Throughout the project, Graham’s Vancouver Buildings group worked closely with the design team and trade partners to optimise construction approaches and improve safety and efficiency. Innovations such as mast climber platforms for façade installation and unitised curtain wall glazing systems were introduced to reduce work-at-height exposure while accelerating installation timelines. These collaborative solutions, along with value engineering efforts during preconstruction and procurement, helped maintain budget alignment while improving construction productivity.
Supported by InEight:
Graham used the InEight platform to support project management across the 808 Royal development. The InEight Control module helped the project team identify potential cost overruns within specific scopes early in the forecasting process. This early visibility allowed the team to adjust the construction plan and procurement strategy as needed. As a result, the project maintained the original budget while accelerating portions of the critical work.
InEight modules used: Estimate, Control, Change, Contract, Plan & Progress, Document, Completions
