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FEBRUA RY 2018 | 61 North Island Hospital Project PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL ELKAN/COURTESY STANTEC ARCHITECTURE North Island Hospital Project by NATALIE BRUCKNER-MENCHELLI I n the fall of 2017 residents of the Comox Valley, Campbell River and surrounding communities welcomed the opening of two new state-of-the-art hospital campuses on North Vancouver Island in B.C. The North Island Hospital Project (NIHP) – which includes both the North Island Hospital Campbell River campus and the North Island Hospital Comox Valley campus – addresses both the region's growing demand for health- care services and meets Island Health's goal of providing modern, effective, and appropriate in-patient and out- patient services to the communities on North Vancouver Island. "Like many hospitals in the world today, our infrastructure is getting older. There's been ongoing discussions for many years about building new hos- pitals, but what makes this particular project unique is we have two hospital campuses under one project, and they are just 45 minutes away from each other," says NIHP chief project officer Tom Sparrow. As Sparrow mentions, questions arose as to why two hospital campuses were built rather than one. "What we discovered during the consultation phase was that the communities were concerned as to how they would access one hospital in a central location, and so the Province agreed that two hospital campuses made the most sense to cater to the communities that extend from the northern tip of Vancouver Island, to south of the mid-Island communities, Courtenay, Comox, and Cumberland." Of course working closely with the communities and numerous stakeholders was critical to the success of this project. "We had over 35 different clinical teams made up of over 250 clinicians from both communities, and, from an engagement perspective, we had an Aboriginal Working Group made up of around 35 Aboriginal representatives from across North Vancouver Island, as well as a Public/Patient Advisory Committee and an Art Committee. We also worked closely with the Chambers of Commerce and educational institu- tions in the area to ensure continuous two-way conversation and feedback," says Sparrow. "When one builds these large legacy projects you want to make sure you get it right, and that you build out for the next 100 years." While strikingly similar in design and function to allow for natural and intuitive wayfinding for staff, patients and families who visit both hospital campuses, the sites have some differ- ences as well. "Campbell River is built on the same site as the previous hospital, so it cre- ated some infection control and logistical challenges during construction," says Greg Parnell, project director at Graham Design Builders. "The Comox site is a greenfield site but adjacent to an elemen- tary school and North Island College." Also, Campbell River is on a sloping site near the sea, whereas Comox Valley is on a flat site nestled in the woods. "For Campbell River we built the design around the theme of Life By The Sea, whereas the Comox Valley campus is surrounded by forest, so the theme was Peace In The Forest. While similar, you also see a distinct variation in the colours to complement their surround- ings," says Bruce Raber, architect at Stantec Architecture. During construction (in particu- lar at Campbell River, which was being built on the existing and then opera- tional Campbell River and District General Hospital site), controlling the migration of dust particles between the construction area and other occu- pied areas of the health care facility was paramount. As previously mentioned, both hos- pital campuses are similar in design being rectilinear in shape and feature masonry at grade, a metal cladding system on steel studs and a curtain wall glazing system. However drawing on their surroundings, the blue clad- ding on the exterior of the Campbell River site and the green cladding of the Comox Valley site give each hospital campus a unique identity. "What Island Health wanted was for the hospital campuses to be as much alike as possible in terms of their lay- out, but to pay respect to the unique communities," says Raber. In keeping with B.C.'s Wood First Act, the design embraces the use of wood throughout both the exteriors and, where applicable, interiors of the facilities such as on the entrance can- opies, ceilings and in the Aboriginal program spaces. The 347,849-square-foot Campbell River campus features 95 beds, includ- ing 72 in-patient beds, six intensive care beds, seven labour, delivery, recovery and post-partum (LDRP), and Aboriginal maternal health rooms as well as 29 emergency examination rooms, an emergency department that is three times larger than the previ- ous ED. The campus is also home to a Network for Improving Maternity Care for Aboriginal Women and Families Across North Island. In contrast, the 428,687-square- foot Comox Valley campus features 153 beds, including 105 in-patient beds, eight intensive care beds, nine LDRP and Aboriginal maternal health rooms, LOCATIONS 372 - 2nd Avenue, Campbell River, B.C. (North Island Hospital Campbell River & District) 101 Lerwick Road, Courtenay, B.C. (North Island Hospital Comox Valley) OWNER/DEVELOPER Island Health ARCHITECT/ STRUCTURAL/MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Stantec Architecture DBFM CONTRACTOR Graham Design Builders LP TOTAL SIZE 347,849 square feet (North Island Hospital Campbell River & District) 428,687 square feet (North Island Hospital Comox Valley) TOTAL COST $274.5 million (North Island Hospital Campbell River & District) $331.7 million (North Island Hospital Comox Valley) 1:27 PM

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