Major works upcoming as $2.8 billion Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus takes shape

Ontario Construction News staff writer

Early work is progressing and contractors will soon move to key major construction phases for the new Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus – a $2.8 billion project that, at its peak, will employ about 4,000 construction workers.

Some early works projects including site remediation and preparation, have been completed, said Joanne Read, the hospital’s executive vice-president and chief planning and development officer.

“There’s still refinement on the construction contract with our joint venture, which is PCL and EllisDon, who are doing the work, and they are currently continuing to read and redefine the design to make sure that we get the most cost-effective design to support the requirements that we have,” she said in presentation at the MSL Show last Thursday (March 23).

Contractors have just started work on the parkade, Read said. “There was a lot of dialogue and discussion with the (neighbouring) communities. One of the reasons (for building the parkade first) is just to ensure that all the people who will be working on the site during that time, have a place to park and we’re not impacting the community.”

The next stage will be building the 100,000 sq. ft. central utility plant, which will be incorporated into the Central Experimental Farm’s landscape, she said.

Planning for work on the main hospital structure – with two towers and a central podium – is underway, with shovels expected be in the ground in early 2025, with the entire project expected to be completed by 2028.

The new hospital building will house 40 clinical programs and a 20,000 sq. ft. surgical suite.  All the hospital rooms will be private, designed with floor-to-ceiling windows to allow patients as much light and outside views as possible.

HDR Architecture Associates Inc. is completing the “progressive design” which Read says is about 90 per cent of the competed schematic design.

‘”That’s got to go into detailed, construction design,” she said. “So what we will be doing and working with the proponents is that once the proponents is selected, and through the process the design will transition to that, and then the Architect of Record will be with the proponent and then we will continue to keep HDR” as the project advisor.

Hospital planners are working on links between the city’s new Light Rail Transit system and the  new campus and considering other environmental issues as they allow for features such as a helicopter landing area on the roof above the trauma/emergency area.

The hospital is a primary research and complex care facility serving eastern Ontario as well as Nunavut.

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