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J UNE 2015 | 101 Parkwood Institute Mental Health Care Building – St. Joseph's Regional Mental Health Care RENDERING & PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY ST. JOSEPH'S HEALTH CARE LONDON Parkwood Institute Mental Health Care Building – St. Joseph's Regional Mental Health Care by DAN O'REILLY M ental health care and treatment in southwestern Ontario has moved into a new era with the recent opening of the 460,578-square-foot, 156-bed, Parkwood Institute Mental Health Care Building at St. Joseph's Parkwood Institute in London. Designed to achieve LEED Gold sta- tus, the four-storey structure is a state- of-the-art treatment, recover y and rehabilitation facility for adolescents and adults experiencing severe and persistent mental illness. Providing inpatient and outpatient mental health services at the specialized and lon- ger-term level, it replaced the former Regional Mental Health Care London facility – once known as the London Psychiatric Hospital. Integrated Team Solutions, a con- sortium comprised of Fengate Capital Ma nagement Lt d . a nd E l l i sDon, designed, built, financed and will main- tain the complex over a 30-year con- cession agreement as a public-private partnership under Ontario's Alternative Financing and Procurement model. Parkin Architects Limited and archi- tects Tillmann Ruth Robinson are the joint venture architects. EllisDon had the role of design- builder of the facility that was built on the same site as the existing Parkwood Hospital. Upon completion of construc- tion of the Mental Health Care Building last November, the site was renamed Parkwood Institute. St. Joseph's Health Care London (St. Joseph's), a patient care, teaching and research centre, operates the overall campus. Having the mental care building adja- cent the existing Parkwood Hospital fosters integration and collaboration, and advances the understanding that physical and mental health recovery and rehabilitation go hand-in-hand, according to Jill Mustin-Powell, direc- tor in mental health care. A number of factors occurring over a long time period were the driving forces behind the project. They include the recommendations of a provincial health restructuring commission in the late 1990s and the movement towards locally-based treatment facilities where the focus is recovery and rehabilita- tion. "We're steeped in a program of recovery," explains Mustin-Powell. The exact same principles are adhered to at Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care (Southwest Centre) in nearby St. Thomas, which St. Joseph's also developed in partnership with ITS and many of the same consultants. Although that facility and Parkwood Institute's Mental Health Care Building are different, there are many similari- ties, says John Christie, a director with Parkin Architects. As was the case at Southwest, the overall design mission was to foster social interaction as part of the treatment and recovery journey. The building is comprised of distinct areas or layers which represent the patients' gradual recovery and move- ment back into the community. Those areas are referred to as the House, the Neighbourhood and the Downtown. Each patient has his/her own bed- room and washroom in the house area, and for treatment sessions and doctors' visits they venture into the neighbour- hood area. Not unlike a typical commu- nity, the downtown boasts a number of amenities including a cafeteria, several retail outlets and a gymnasium. Three strategically placed courtyard gardens which channel natural light into the heart of the building will help to enhance treatment and recovery, says Christie. "These courtyards, coupled with secure therapeutic gardens and views to the exterior associated with the clinical inpatient units, provide a healing environment that supports patients during their recovery times in the facility." There are also a number of "inter- mediate'' court yards which can be reserved for patients to use for family birthday parties and other celebratory occasions, Christie points out. "This is a facility, not just for the patients, not just for the staff, but for the community." Set against the backdrop of an exten- sive tree canopy – London is known as Forest City – the building is in an almost bucolic location which has been augmented by extensive landscaping. "Using large masses of trees, shrubs, perennials and open lawn, the land- scape provides patients with a tranquil, safe and calming experience bringing the large scale facility down to a residen- tial scale," says Martha Berkvens, land- scape architect, Ron Koudys Landscape Architects Inc. As well, the landscaping features provide a sense of security and allow patients to obtain either solitude or interaction, she says. Designing the Mental Health Care Building was an intense, time-pressured undertaking which was still underway when construction started, says archi- tects Tillmann Ruth Robinson presi- dent, Tom Tillmann. It wasn't an activity where the architects visited the site on a periodic basis. Instead, working from a trailer, the architectural team was on site all the time, he emphasizes. However, the architectural team was able to capitalize on some of the lessons learned at Southwest Centre, which opened in June 2013. On that project, the architects were observers at a series of structural assessments conducted by the windows supplier. As the same manufacturer was selected to provide the windows for Parkwood Institute, there was no need to repeat a similar round of tests, he says. The project also consisted of a lot of complicated electrical work. By far, however, the largest and most com- plex aspect was the security control. Approximately 350 CCTV cameras near the exit doors, stairwells, and other key areas – with the notable exception of the bedrooms – are monitored around the clock by an onsite control centre. "The biggest challenges were how to provide the required controls on patient move- ment without an institutional look, impacting staff safety, or patient recov- ery," says Dave Buck, partner and lead electrical designer at WalterFedy. A decade in the planning and devel- opment stage, Parkwood Institute's Mental Health Care Building and its sister facility in St. Thomas are leading edge in both the way they were planned and how they embraced the latest design philosophy for patient rehabili- tation, says EllisDon project manager Brent Day. When asked what stands out about the project, Day responds: "The chal- lenge of procuring subtrades and executing work while the design was getting completed and updated. Despite the many challenges, overall the project was a major success, completed on time, on budget and to a high level of quality with few minor deficiencies outstand- ing at the time of handover. Most impor- tantly, the organization has been very happy with their new facility." A LOCATION 550 Wellington Road, London, Ontario OWNER/DEVELOPER St. Joseph's Health Care London ARCHITECT Parkin Architects Limited / architects Tillmann Ruth Robinson DESIGN-BUILD CONTRACTOR EllisDon STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Hastings & Aziz Ltd. MECHANICAL CONSULTANT The Mitchell Partnership Inc. ELECTRICAL/CIVIL CONSULTANT WalterFedy LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Ron Koudys Landscape Architects Inc. PROJECT SIZE 460,578 square feet TOTAL COST Undisclosed

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