B+H Architects and mcCallumSather have been chosen as the planning, design, and conformance (PDC) team for the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital construction project in Grimsby, Hamilton Health Sciences officials have announced.
The project includes building a new, larger hospital on the property behind the existing facility and will be completed under Infrastructure Ontario’s public-private partnership (P3) model, which transfers the risks associated with design, construction, and financing a complex hospital project to the private sector.
As the next major step, Hamilton Health Sciences and Infrastructure Ontario will issue a request for qualifications (RFQ), inviting teams to submit their credentials to design, build, and finance the hospital. The RFQ is expected to be released in early 2021.
“I am very pleased to see this important step towards our new hospital proceed,” said Sam Oosterhoff, MPP, Niagara West. “This critical health-care infrastructure project will serve many families, seniors, and mothers in Niagara West and beyond.”
Hamilton Health Sciences recently named Grimsby-resident Bart DeVries director of redevelopment projects and he is taking the lead on the WLMH project.
“I’ve had the opportunity to work on a range of development projects, from small to large-scale, both at HHS and as a consultant,” DeVries said in a statement.
The new hospital will be the largest single piece of infrastructure ever delivered in the community.
“The scale of the project is exciting and so is being part of the process of bringing it to life,” DeVries said. “This motivates me to get it right and I’m excited to be able to execute this project on behalf of the community.”
In March, RPG Inc., began creating a functional program for the new hospital.
“This is a very important step in the redevelopment process. It’s critical that we have the right people around the table to provide advice, ask the right questions and make sure we create the best program for the new hospital,” said Kelly Campbell, HHS vice-president of Corporate Services and Capital Development.
The functional program will include details about the programs and services to included in the new facility
“We’re excited to get going on this project. We know the hospital and community have been waiting a long time for this and we’re pleased to be part of the process. It’s encouraging to see the momentum and support around this project,” said Chuck Wertheimer, senior principal at RPG Inc and project lead on the WLMH rebuild.
In addition to all of the community, hospital and government leaders’ support for the project, the ministry is giving HHS a unique exception to fast-track the planning process by overlapping some parts of Stage 2 and Stage 3 work.
“This is not business as usual and we’re very pleased to see this flexibility. It will, however, mean a lot of work needs to get done in a shorter time frame which will require a focus and extra efforts from the user groups, the hospital and our team. I know that we’re all up for the challenge,” said Wertheimer.
The functional program will also profile design and spatial requirements, a project budget and a project schedule which is looking to be submitted to the ministry by early fall 2020.