Construction is set to begin in the nation’s capital on a new Royal Ottawa Hospital (ROH) and University of Ottawa Institute for Mental Health Research.
$256M cost compares to traditional method
By Grant Cameron
staff writer
Construction is set to begin in the nation’s capital on a new Royal Ottawa Hospital (ROH) and University of Ottawa Institute for Mental Health Research.
A fence has been erected around the construction area and there will be some explosive blasting in the coming weeks to allow for excavation of the new building site, located directly in front of the existing facilities on Carling Avenue.
The new facilities were made possible through a public-private partnership between the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group (ROHCG), and The Hea- lthcare Infrastructure Company of Canada (THICC).
The two groups negotiated an agreement that spans 20 years and eight months.
The private sector consortium has agreed to design, build, finance and operate the new facility and lease the land from the ROHCG.
When the lease expires, ownership of the new facility will revert back to the ROH.
George Langill, president and CEO of the ROHCG, announced last week that the final financial agreements related to the re-development deal were signed, paving the way for construction of the facilities to begin immediately.
He announced the deal on his last official workday as president.
“Finalizing the deal was never timed to happen on my last day of work,” he said.
“But I am so relieved that I was able to see this project through to construction, alongside the project team and the community volunteers who worked to make it happen.
The ag- reement calls for development of a 188-bed hospital and a research institute—all contained within 399,178 square feet.
Financing for the capital and facility management services will cost $256 million over the course of the arrangement.
This compares favour- ably to a traditionally built and operated facility that would have cost $273 million for the same product—a savings of $17 million.
The capital cost for the design and construction of the building alone, including the hospital and the research institute, is $126.8 million.
Payment begins when the facilities are open for occupancy in late 2006 and covers the mortgage for the facilities, as well as: all utilities including heating, air conditioning and lighting; food and linen services; security services, housekeeping, ground maintenance, and ongoing maintenance.
A ‘life-cycle’ program is built into the deal which ensures that the facilities are kept in a ‘like-new’ condition for the duration of the agreement and continuously maintained.
Residents in the neighbourhood of the present hospital began seeing signs of construction as early as last week when a fence was erected around the construction site.
The main entrance of the present hospital is also being changed from Carling Avenue to Merivale Road, and the entrance from Carling Avenue will be converted to a one-way route.
Construction crews from EllisDon have been on the hospital campus since Nov. 25, orienting themselves to the site and patient care programs in order to minimize disruption to patients and staff during construction.
Site preparation activities have also been taking place in various locations on the campus.
Richard Patten, MPP for Ottawa Centre, said the provincial government takes great pride in advancing the hospital and research institute to the construction phase.
“We have all worked together to see this day through, to have new mental health facilities that will be second to none in North America, and available for use as early as December 2006.”
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