Ontario Construction News staff writer
Infrastructure Ontario and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to design, build and finance the CAMH Phase 1D Redevelopment project. The RFQ is the first step in the process to select a team to help deliver the project.
Companies interested in making an RFQ submission must register on merx.com.
Submissions will be reviewed to shortlist teams with the design and construction experience, as well as the financial capacity, to deliver a project of its size and complexity. Shortlisted teams will then be invited to respond to a Request for Proposals (RFP), which is expected to be published in the fall of this year.
CAMH is Canada’s largest mental health teaching hospital and one of the world’s leading research centres. The Toronto-based organization is in the midst of a multi-phase transformation of its Queen Street West site.
The centre’s forensic mental health program currently operates out of an old, institutional building that does not align with modern concepts of forensic health care. Phase 1D of the redevelopment project, the fourth and final part of the hospital’s broader redevelopment, includes upgrades to the department’s facility, as well as additional indoor and outdoor support spaces.
Phase 3, the largest construction phase, wrapped up in November 2020.
“These new buildings will revolutionize mental health care by offering dignified spaces for CAMH patients to heal and recover, and provide a safe and generative space for CAMH staff to work,” said CAMH CEO Dr. Catherine Zahn said at the official opening.
“They reflect a bold vision and are also a powerful symbol of CAMH’s move away from institutionalization towards community integration for the people we serve.”
The two new buildings, with 600,000 square feet of space, feature 235 inpatient beds.
Other major enhancements to the CAMH Queen Street campus include:
- A new state of the art Emergency Department. The Gerald Sheff and Shanitha Kacham Emergency Department is the only one in Ontario devoted exclusively to mental health treatment 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- Enhanced therapeutic recovery and healing environment inside and outside the new buildings with evidence-based recovery programming for patients, including a chef school culinary certificate program run by George Brown College.
- Consolidation of education and clinical care to one location – one of the major benefits of locating the CAMH education spaces adjacent to our clinical care services.
“Investing in innovative projects like these two new buildings are an important part of our government’s plan to build a comprehensive and connected mental health and addictions system that works for all Ontarians,” Minster of Health Christine Elliot said in a statement. “Congratulations CAMH and everyone who has come together to make this project a reality,” said Minister of Health Christine Elliott.