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Redevelopment plans for the Etobicoke General Hospital are continuing to move forward, with the selection of a preferred proponent to design, build, finance, and maintain a new 250,000 ft² Patient Care Tower. As part of Phase 1 of the hospital's redevelopment, this milestone clears the way for the project to break ground, with construction expected to commence this Spring.
Together with Infrastructure Ontario (IO), the William Osler Health System has selected the Etobicoke Healthcare Partnership to lead the project, following an RFP launched last Spring. The Etobicoke Healthcare Partnership is composed of developers Axium Infrastructure Canada and DIF Infra 4 Canada Ltd., construction firm Walsh Canada, architects HDR Architecture Associates Inc., and facility management firm Cofely Services Inc., with Brookfield Securities LLP acting as a financial advisor for the project.
With a preferred proponent now selected, construction of the Patient Care Tower is expected to begin this Spring. According to an IO press release, "[t]he project is expected to reach commercial close and financial close in May 2016, which will mean that relevant contracts have been signed and a financing rate has been set." Once the contract cost is publicly announced following financial close in April, construction is expected to begin in short order. The new patient care tower targets an early 2019 completion date.
The four-storey Patient Care Tower will house a new ICU/CCU that will be nearly four times larger than the existing space, as well as a maternal newborn unit with a specialized nursery, and an ambulatory procedures unit. Designed to provide more spacious hospital rooms with greater access to natural light, the new facility aims to increase the hospital's capacity while providing better standards of patient care and wellness. The hospital overlooks parkland of the West Humber River ravine across from Humber College in Rexdale.
Alongside the Patient Care Tower (for which early planning and design was led by Stantec), the hospital's 10-year, $250 million redevelopment will also include a new seven-storey ancillary building, which will eventually replace some of the existing facility's services. The redevelopment will significantly expand the capacity of Ontario's largest community hospital network—the William Osler Health System, which also runs Brampton Civic Hospital and Peel Memorial Hospital—annually treats more than double the 35,000 patients that the 1970s-built facility in northern Etobicoke was designed to accommodate.
We will keep you updated as the project continues to develop and the official start of construction nears. In the meantime, more information is available on the hospital's official website. Want to share your thoughts on the project? Feel free to leave a comment in the space below, or join in the ongoing conversation on our associated Forum thread.
