Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/178290
hat do you do when the existing buildings on a tight site in the city core won't allow you to build out? You go up. That was the best way to add much-needed space at the Kingston General Hospital in Kingston, Ontario. Two loors were built on top of the Burr Wing and three loors were added to the Kidd Wing. Several new patient care units include adult in-patient, pediatrics, mental health facilities and a kidney dialysis unit. Planning for this redevelopment phase began in 2004. Infrastructure Ontario (IO), a Crown corporation in charge of project delivery of large-scale public-sector projects, issued an RFP in 2007. The contract was awarded to PCL Constructors Canada Ltd. with inancing provided by Toronto Dominion Bank. Construction began in June 2008 and was completed in December 2011. Cost to inance and build the 170,000 square feet of new space, and 143,000 square feet of renovated space was $142.1 million. "A third-party valuefor-money analysis done by Ernst and Young, comparing the cost of the delivering the project under the province's alternative inancing and procurement (AFP) model versus the traditional model, determined that that the use of the AFP model saved the public sector an estimated $19.8 million," says IO's Derrick Toigo, vice president of major projects. Juggling 31 phases in four or ive major construction areas proved challenging. "This is likely one of the most complex hospital redevelopment projects because of the fact that everything was built within the walls of an existing hospital and construction was going on in and around existing units," says the hospital's chief operating of icer Jim Flett. Some areas were closed and then re-opened but the hospital itself was never closed. There were a number of environmental concerns, including the transportation of construction materials, the constant movement of construction workers, and almost 1,100 shut-downs of water, electricity, medical gas and oxygen during construction, according to Flett. Operating rooms, intensive care units and other medical areas remained operational while more than 1,500 individual tradespeople were on site – sometimes more than 200 at one time. "This required a great deal of coordination between the contractors, the consultants, and the staff, and everyone's safety was paramount in my mind," says Tony Cook, project manager for PCL Constructors Canada Ltd. Kingston General Hospital Redevelopment p.90-93Cairns_Kingston.indd 91 PHOTOS COURTESY KINGSTON GENERAL HOSPITAL W Kingston General Hospital Redevelopment by Christine Peets "Although adding a two-or-three- loor structure to an existing tower was a fairly straightforward project, it was by no means simple to design or construct because we were working within the complexities of a functioning hospital that is used by a large population." This large metropolitan hospital, originally built in the 1800s, now services a wide geographic area of southeastern Ontario and is surrounded by buildings belonging to Queen's University, which partners with the hospital for its medical programs. Much of the hospital overlooks Lake Ontario, and taking full advantage of that vista was incorporated into the design of the new areas. "We are getting some really positive feedback from both staff and patients at how uplifting it is to have the view of the lake. A lot of natural light was also incorporated into the design," says Rob Malloy, principal architect from HDR Architecture Associates Inc. "Bringing in the natural light and the light from the lake really opened things up. What were formally some pretty bleak spaces are now very open and welcoming. From a design perspective we really couldn't use any extravagant materials, so we chose to use some commonly found in this area like limestone, and we added wood panels and trims to give the facility a warmer appearance." With an already established footprint, the team had to be very creative to make the design work within this part of the hospital, which has some areas that are more than 40 years old. "Health-care delivery has changed signi icantly over the years and we had to be able to accommodate that," Malloy says. His prime consideration was making things easy for the staff. Staff often work on different loors but are accustomed to having equipment in the same place on each loor. There had to be a consistency in the layouts APRIL 2012 /91 3/26/12 3:07:17 PM