A single-family detached house in the Arbutus Ridge neighbourhood of the Vancouver Westside could make way for two dozen family-sized rental homes in the city’s very first application under its new framework for small apartment buildings with a single exit staircase.
Upon inquiry, the City of Vancouver confirmed to Daily Hive Urbanized that the newly submitted rezoning application for 2150 West 16th Ave. is the first to be submitted under its single-egress staircase residential building design framework, with this policy enabling such residential building forms approved by Vancouver City Council in December 2025.
The policy — a Vancouver variation of what was approved by the provincial government in 2024 for the B.C. Building Code — is intended to help realize more homes on a small lot, without having to form an expensive land assembly that involves buying adjacent properties.
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Typically, Vancouver’s building rules require buildings three storeys and higher to have at least two exits from each floor. Those separate escape routes provide alternatives during emergencies, but accommodating two staircases and connecting hallways also takes up space within a building.
Under the new framework for a small multi-unit residential building, such designs enable a single exit staircase for emergencies, with buildings reaching up to six storeys in height and having a limit of up to 24 residents per floor — up to four suites per floor on levels four to six, and up to six suites per floor on levels one to three. Such a building typology also reduces construction costs and increases the usable floor area for residential units, effectively providing larger homes with more optimal floor plans. It also provides the homes with more windows for natural light and ventilation.
With just a single egress staircase, the framework also requires enhanced fire safety design considerations and measures.
Following the City’s framework, the new proposal by developer PCube and design firm B Squared Architecture calls for a 60-ft-tall, six-storey, wood-frame building with secured purpose-built rental housing building on the mid-block, conventional single-family lot, located just west of the intersection of Arbutus Street and West 16th Avenue and the Loblaws City Market Arbutus grocery store.
It would replace a house built in 1944 on a roughly 7,500 sq. ft. lot measuring approximately 50 ft. wide and 150 ft. deep.
Site of 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver, in relation to SkyTrain’s future Arbutus Station. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
Site of 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
Site of 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
Concept of the single-egress staircase building at 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
Concept of the single-egress staircase building at 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
Concept of the single-egress staircase building at 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
Concept of the single-egress staircase building at 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
Concept of the single-egress staircase building at 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
There would be 24 secured purpose-built market rental homes. No below-market rental housing is proposed.
The unit size mix is 16 two-bedroom units and eight three-bedroom units, with four units per floor. The two-bedroom units would average approximately 865 sq. ft., while the three-bedroom homes would average about 1,036 sq. ft.
The design places a single outdoor staircase near the middle of the building’s east side. Shared open-air passageways would connect the units to the staircase and a centrally located elevator.
Residents would have access to a shared outdoor amenity space on the building rooftop.
A single underground level accessed from the laneway would accommodate 12 vehicle parking stalls and 63 secured bike parking spaces.
Concept of the single-egress staircase building at 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
Concept of the single-egress staircase building at 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
Concept of the single-egress staircase building at 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
Concept of the single-egress staircase building at 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
The total building floor area would reach 21,700 sq. ft., establishing a floor area ratio density of 2.89 — a total building floor area that is nearly three times larger than the size of the lot’s land area.
The property is within the provincially legislated Transit Oriented Area for SkyTrain’s future Arbutus Station (at the intersection of West Broadway and Arbutus Street), which is located about a 12-minute walk to the north. It is also adjacent to bus routes along Arbutus Street and West 16th Avenue and the Arbutus Greenway’s walking and cycling pathways.
This proposal offers an early example of how changes to staircase requirements could make apartment construction more practical on individual single-family lots.
“Unlike larger redevelopment projects that rely on complex land assemblies or multi-parcel coordination, this proposal illustrates how a single parcel can be redeveloped to deliver meaningful housing density while remaining compatible with the surrounding neighbourhood context,” reads the application.
“The project therefore represents a replicable model for incremental urban intensification, providing new rental housing close to rapid transit while respecting the existing urban fabric of the Arbutus Ridge neighbourhood.”
Concept of the single-egress staircase building at 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
Concept of the single-egress staircase building at 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
Concept of the single-egress staircase building at 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
Concept of the single-egress staircase building at 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
Concept of the single-egress staircase building at 2150 West 16th Ave., Vancouver. (B Squared Architecture/PCube)
- You might also like:
- Vancouver City Council approves 'safer' versions of single-stair residential buildings
- B.C. Building Code updated to allow six-storey single-staircase residential buildings
- Burnaby Mayor, a former firefighter, urges B.C. government to repeal new single-staircase buildings up to six storeys
- Five towers with 1,000+ homes proposed for Safeway site on Kingsway in Vancouver