Royal Columbian Hospital is one step closer to getting a new 75-bed mental health and substance use centre.
Fraser Health announced last month that Bird Design-Build Construction Inc. has been picked as the preferred proponent to build the New Westminster hospital’s new mental health facility.
Officials plan to finalize a contract with the design-builder by early 2017 and begin construction “soon after,” according to a health authority press release.
Construction is expected to finish in winter 2019, with details of the agreement and project cost to be made public after the contract has been finalized.
The new mental health facility will replace the aging 30-bed Sherbrooke Centre, which was originally built as a nursing dormitory and falls short in “many ways” as a psychiatric unit, according to RCH head of psychiatry Anson Koo.
Work on the new facility was originally expected to start in 2016, according to plans announced in May 2015.
The Bird proposal includes a multi-level underground parkade, associated tunnel and bridge connections to the existing hospital, an IT network perimeter pathway and an IT communications hub.
Bird, picked out of three design-build teams shortlisted in December 2015, has also been selected as the preferred choice to build the hospital’s new energy centre.
Four Fraser Health and Partnerships B.C. evaluation teams, comprised of clinicians, staff, technology experts and consultants, reviewed and scored each proposal, according to the press release.
“This is an important project milestone,” stated Fraser Health president and CEO Michael Marchbank in the release. “It brings Fraser Health one step closer to breaking ground on our new patient-centred facility for people and families coping with acute mental health and substance use challenges.”
