NIAGARA REGION — Infrastructure Ontario and Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) have announced substantial completion has been reached on the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital (WLMH) redevelopment project.
This means over the next few months, HHS will begin transitioning operations to the new facility. Doors will open to patients in late fall.
The $224 million project was delivered through a design-build-finance model and was led by EllisDon Infrastructure Healthcare (EDIH).
According to EDIH, crews poured approximately 13,000 cubic metres of concrete and placed roughly 14,000 cubic metres of backfill. Combined with the broader construction and design work, this resulted in an almost 80 per cent increase in the hospital’s overall size.
Other key elements of the hospital redevelopment include:
- 55 acute inpatient beds
- 100 per cent private rooms
- Expanded outpatient (ambulatory) care space
- Advanced diagnostics, including X-ray, mammography, echocardiography, ultrasound and a CT scanner
- A new 24-hour emergency department
- Maternal and newborn services
- Day surgical services, including endoscopy and minor procedures
Approximately 270 workers were onsite during peak construction and roughly 860,000 total working hours were carried out, EDIH reports, noting the project was faced with some interesting challenges.
Situated between two existing facilities, the project had logistical constraints, with limited space for laydown areas, vehicle access and personnel movement, requiring careful co-ordination and scheduling.
Despite these hurdles, EDIH successfully carried out the intricate construction while maintaining the safety of the public, patients and staff.
“Over the last several years, hundreds of team members, including our project team and varied construction services, subcontractors, and consultants, have worked tirelessly to bring this much-needed facility to life,” said Randy Reymer, senior vice-president and area manager, southwestern Ontario for EllisDon, in a release. “In collaboration with our partners at Hamilton Health Sciences and Infrastructure Ontario, we are proud to deliver a health care facility that will elevate patient care and well-being across the region, leaving a lasting legacy for future generations.”
The new WLMH has also been designed to LEED Silver and features waste diversion strategies, electrochromic self-tinting glazing to regulate interior climate, a large rooftop solar panel array and the installation of electric vehicle charging stations.
“Substantial completion marks the successful delivery of a critical health care asset to a community that has been actively engaged, vocal, and deeply invested from the very beginning,” said Max Murray, senior project manager, operations, EllisDon. “Our team has been able to see the interior spaces of the building come together with finishes, systems, furniture, and equipment after years of designing and planning. The hard work of so many dedicated individuals was truly rewarded by seeing an ambitious concept come together to become a community hospital.”
Also heavily involved in the WLMH project was EllisDon’s Energy and Digital Services team, the release notes.
WLMH has been serving west Niagara residents for over 70 years. As a site of HHS, WLMH also serves as a point of access to one of the largest health systems in Canada for patients requiring more specialized care.
