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J UNE 2019 | 45 Etobicoke General Hospital Patient Tower RENDERINGS COURTESY HDR ARCHITECTURE ASSOCIATES INC. Etobicoke General Hospital Patient Tower by NATALIE BRUCKNER LOCATION 101 Humber College Blvd., Etobicoke, Ontario OWNER William Osler Health System DEVELOPER Infrastructure Ontario ARCHITECT HDR Architecture Associates Inc. PROJECT TEAM/ GENERAL CONTRACTOR Axium Infrastructure Canada / DIF Infra 4 Canada Ltd. / Walsh Canada STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT EXP Services MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL/ ENERGY MODELLING/ LEED CONSULTANT MCW Consultants Ltd. TOTAL SIZE 250,000 square feet TOTAL COST $330 million I t takes a community to build a hos- pital, and a team of highly skilled individuals to build an addition that not only complements an existing facil- ity, but enhances it in every way. This was the case for the Etobicoke General Hospital Patient Tower – a new four-sto- rey wing that will add around 250,000 square feet to the existing facility and will be home to the services most urgently needed by the community. "The need for the new tower was driven by the clinical needs and their projections to respond to the catch- ment area of the hospital," explains Imad el Haddad, director, project deliv- ery at Infrastructure Ontario. "The existing hospital is over 45 years old and requires upgrades to bring it up to today's standards. This tower is one of the steps in redeveloping the entire site for the hospital." This beautiful new LEED-Silver tower, with its dramatic angles and stunning esthetic, features a larger, state-of-the-art emergency depart- ment, a 21-bed Critical Care Unit, and larger, brighter patient rooms that provide privacy and space to accom- modate family members. There is also a maternal newborn unit with private birthing suites, a Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, an ambulatory procedures unit with procedure/ operating rooms, and dedicated clinic spaces for cardiac, respiratory and neurological diagnostics. In 2016, William Osler Health System (Osler), with support from Infrastructure Ontario (IO), selected the Etobicoke Healthcare Partnership to design, build, finance, and main- tain (DBFM) the new Etobicoke General Hospital Phase 1 Patient Tower project. The Partnership consists of Axium Infrastructure Canada and DIF Infra 4 Canada Ltd. (developer), HDR Architecture Associates Inc. (architect), Walsh Canada (constructor), Brookfield Securities LP (financial advisor), and Engie Services Inc. (facility manager). Construction of the building began in May 2016, and with a projected opening date of June 2019, there was no time to lose. As with any site, there were some challenges, including soil conditions, a strict setback due to its location near the Humber Valley River and ravine, and building while con- struction of another structure was ongoing adjacent to the site. "When you're building an addition to an existing hospital you've not only got the soils to contend with but you also need to be sure you don't impact the working hospital. One of the big- gest challenges, however, was joining the Tower to the existing hospital so it could became one hospital. Some existing spaces were renovated, and that required detailed co-ordination," explains Tim Meana, senior project manager at Walsh Canada. For the exterior of the Tower, a precast enclosure was chosen with a granite banding to give it a unique character. "It was important to bring in natural elements that would comple- ment the landscape of the river valley, but not clash with the existing tower. We integrated a natural stone look into the building, bringing in that sense of the river rocks," explains Rodel Misa, project principal at HDR Architecture. "We used an atypical rib pattern for the precast sandwich panel to give it that natural stone look with some deep shadow lines. The lower section of the building features a thermal blasted natural granite from a Quebec quarry that we also used inside the building," adds Misa. It was also essential to allow as much natural light to infiltrate the building, and eliminate the need for roller shades. To create a connection to nature, laminate, longboard soffits were chosen and energy-saving green roofs were installed. To link the Tower to a new medi- cal office building (Etobicoke Wellness Centre), an elevated and covered ped- way, 12-feet wide, was constructed that not only helps with wayfinding but provides a connection between the Wellness Centre and the Tower. "A west lobby link that runs east to west connects the new public atrium space to the existing hospital. It's a full cur- tain wall corridor, so the landscape

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