Building Healthcare for Today and Tomorrow
- April 2007
- Français
The site map shows the projected use of the 40-acre property bordered by First Avenue (right) and Fourth Street (top) in west St. Catharines.
Work is well underway to develop the specifications which will shape the new health care complex being built in west St. Catharines, at the intersection of Fourth Avenue and First Street. The bigger, more modern facility, now projected to be more than 800,000 sq. ft. in size, will bring specialized services to residents across Niagara. The new complex will incorporate new regional services such as cancer, cardiac catheterization, longer term mental health and chronic kidney, as well as a community hospital replacing St. Catharines General Site and Ontario Street Sites to serve St. Catharines, Thorold and surrounding communities.
Details of the new Health Care Complex
During March, Community Information Open Houses in St. Catharines, Thorold and Niagara-on-the-Lake communities showcased site and building concepts for the new healthcare complex.
Some highlights of the new cancer centre and hospital include the following:
- The 40-acre property provides room to expand the new health care complex in the future, as per Ministry of Health and Long Term Care guidelines.
- The building is currently scoped to more than 800,000 sq. ft. in size.
- There will be 390 patient beds for acute care (medical, surgical, ICU, obstetrics, paediatrics, short-term mental health, oncology, dialysis) as well as new programs such as tertiary mental health (longer-term) and cardiac catheterization.
- Currently, the concept the planning teams are working with is a four story building, with separate entrances and parking for various services such as outpatient (ambulatory) clinics including the cancer centre, as well as mental health and emergency departments.
Environmental and Conservation Features
Plans for the 40-acre property (above graphic) include some strong environmental conservation features. Running through the property is a city-owned drainage ditch called Francis Creek for stormwater runoff, and this area will be naturalized with tree and grass plantings to complement a multi-use trail alongside the watercourse. Additional methods of managing stormwater are equally environmentally-sensitive, with grassed boulevards in parking lots to allow rainwater, melting snow and road salt to soak through the soil rather than being washed into catch basins immediately. Other ways to better manage stormwater on the property are two constructed wetland ponds, where plantations of cattails and bulrushes will provide natural filtration before the stormwater finally drains into Francis Creek.
Building Plan Specifications
The specifications for the building plans are maturing and evolving, says NHS Chief Planning Officer Gloria Kain, as the 37 staff planning groups get deeper into detailed discussions. "At this time, we are considering a four-story building, with specific points of entry for patients and visitors," Gloria says. "We want to make our building as accessible as possible, so our patients and visitors can park conveniently and navigate the departments easily. We also want to ensure our property is secure, both for staff and the public, and we are looking at how to best achieve that. The location of departments is key to ensuring good patient flow, and as discussions proceed, we are finding better ways to provide staff with the environment they need to work in. This is very much a work-in-progress at this point. We are also working on building a green hospital, one that makes use of the latest conservation building methods. We want lots of natural light and energy efficiency. We're also planning for wireless technology, so workstations will need to be more portable, particularly on nursing units."
At this time, there is discussion around locating a power plant and staff parking lot on the eight-acre section of the property on the other side of Francis Creek, to ensure there is more than enough dedicated parking for both staff and patients/visitors.
The NHS is working with Cannon Design to develop the concept and block schematic drawings for the new health care complex, and in January held a visioning evening to gather input from clinical staff, patient representatives and community members. "There are many strong themes that came from that visioning evening and we are very pleased to see so much consensus, particularly on the need for an inviting environment, wheelchair access to all departments and forward-thinking as we look to the future of health care technology," Gloria said.
Infrastructure Ontario
Infrastructure Ontario is a Crown corporation of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal, dedicated to managing some of the province's larger and more complex infrastructure renewal projects — ensuring they are built on time and on budget. The NHS, in partnership with Infrastructure Ontario, will develop and build the health care complex, which will remain publicly owned, publicly controlled and publicly accountable.
This project is guided by principles outlined in the Province's Building a Better Tomorrow policy framework, which ensures public ownership of core assets such as hospitals, schools, and water and wastewater facilities. The NHS project is one of many infrastructure projects being upgraded and modernized under ReNew Ontario, the government's five-year, $30-billion plus public infrastructure investment plan.
Next Steps
Infrastructure Ontario and the NHS have short-listed three companies to design, build, finance and maintain the new hospital. The short-listed building teams were pre-qualified through a request for qualifications process, which began in November 2006.
"The identification of the short-listed building teams is yet another milestone for this healthcare project that will benefit all of Niagara," said Debbie Sevenpifer, NHS President and CEO. A tremendous amount of progress has already been made and we look forward to working through this next very exciting phase leading to the tender of the hospital project to the short-listed building teams."
The following companies have been short-listed for this project based on their development, construction, financial, and facilities management capacity to undertake a project of this size and complexity:
- Hospital Infrastructure Partners Inc. - Carillion Canada, EllisDon Corporation, LPF Infrastructure Fund (Labourers' Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Ontario), Stantec/Murphy Hilgers Architects in Joint Venture, Rybka, Smith and Ginsler
- Plenary Health - Plenary Group, PCL Constructors, Bregman + Hamann Architects and Silver Thomas International Architects, Johnson Controls, Deutsche Bank
- Infusion Health - Bilfinger Berger BOT, John Laing, Vanbots Construction, Parkin Architects/Vermeulen-Hind Architects in Joint Venture, Honeywell Building Solutions, RBC Capital Markets
These building teams will be invited to respond to a request for proposals (RFP) for the project, which will be issued in mid 2007. It is anticipated that construction on the new health care complex will begin in 2008, with completion by 2011-12.
"This new hospital will provide St. Catharines and the Niagara region with critical treatments for heart and cancer care closer to home," stated Jim Bradley, MPP for St. Catharines. "Our communities deserve the very best health care facilities we can offer and it's exciting for us to continue to move forward with this project."
Visit www.infrastructureontario.ca for more information.
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