Contract awarded for CAMH redevelopment project

Redevelopment project to consolidate CAMH mental health and addiction care within revitalized urban community

TORONTO , Dec. 18 /CNW/ - The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and Infrastructure Ontario today announced that Carillion Health Solutions has signed a contract to design, build, finance and maintain the next phase of CAMH's redevelopment project on Queen Street West in Toronto .

Today's announcement signifies that all contractual steps have been completed and construction can begin. Carillion Health Solutions will begin mobilizing equipment on site over the next few weeks, with an official groundbreaking ceremony to follow. The construction project will provide a sizeable boost to the regional and Ontario economies by directly and indirectly creating and supporting thousands of jobs.

This phase of redevelopment will see the demolition of the existing administration building on Queen Street West and the construction of three new state-of-the art buildings: the CAMH Gateway Building, the Intergenerational Wellness Centre and the Utilities and Parking Building. The redevelopment project will dramatically transform the 27-acre site at 1001 Queen Street West , bringing CAMH one step closer to achieving its vision of providing high quality, integrated mental health and addiction care in a revitalized urban village. CAMH has a bold, transformational agenda: to change the face of treatment, integrate the hospital with the community and break down stigma.

At the end of this phase of redevelopment, CAMH will have beds for youth experiencing both mental health and substance use problems - the first such dedicated beds of their kind in Canada . These beds will be co-located with CAMH's Geriatric Mental Health Program. A variety of outpatient programs, key central clinical services and all of the support and administrative functions will be created as required by CAMH's Queen Street hub.

CAMH's addictions program will be fully integrated at the Queen Street site and no longer split between different locations. The co-location of addictions and mental health professionals will lead to increased collaboration between CAMH staff and better results for clients, particularly the significant percentage who have addictions and mental health disorders concurrently.

The redevelopment will also contribute to the revitalization of CAMH's Queen Street neighbourhood. CAMH's new Queen Street hub will be designed with a pattern of buildings, street, sidewalks, new shops and open spaces that will integrate with the surrounding neighbourhood and create an urban village. All the new buildings will be designed with environmentally responsible and sustainable features in order to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification. The new CAMH buildings will be the first hospital facilities in Ontario and only the third in Canada to achieve this standard.

This phase of the CAMH redevelopment project will be delivered using an Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP) model. Carillion Health Solutions will receive annual payments from CAMH over a 30-year period. Payments cover construction, building maintenance, life-cycle repair and renewal, and project financing. Life-cycle repair and renewal will ensure that heating and cooling systems, windows, floors and roofing structures, for example, are kept in excellent working condition over the 30-year period. The annual payments are comparable to a fixed-rate mortgage with maintenance and repair expenses included and, along with payments made at substantial completion, will total approximately $551 million after 30 years. In today's dollars, this is equivalent to approximately $293 million .

Construction of the new buildings is expected to be completed in 2012.

"We are delighted that we're now getting ready to start construction of this next phase," said Dr. Catherine Zahn , President and CEO of CAMH. "This phase will begin the transformation of our Queen Street site and go a long way toward breaking down stigma, as well as contribute to revitalizing the Queen West neighbourhood."

Infrastructure Ontario and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care are working with CAMH on the redevelopment. CAMH will remain publicly owned, publicly controlled and publicly accountable. Infrastructure Ontario is a Crown corporation dedicated to managing some of the province's larger and more complex infrastructure renewal projects - ensuring they are built on time and on budget.

Visit www.infrastructureontario.ca for more information.

Disponible en français

    
    Background

                         CONSTRUCTION SET TO BEGIN ON
                       NEXT PHASE OF CAMH REDEVELOPMENT
    

Carillion Health Services (Carillion) has signed a contract with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) to design, build, finance and maintain phase 1B of CAMH's capital redevelopment project in Toronto . The Carillion team includes its fully integrated Construction and Facility Management Divisions; Stantec Architecture Ltd.; and Scotia Capital Inc.

Financing for the CAMH project is being provided by Scotia Capital Inc., Dexia Credit Local S.A. (acting under the name Dexia Capital Markets), and Casgrain & Company Ltd. as long-term debt underwriters. Construction financing is provided by Banco Espirito Santo de Investimento, S.A., New York branch; The Bank of Nova Scotia and Dexia Credit Local S.A. acting through its Canada branch. Equity is being provided by Carillion Private Finance Ltd. and by Fengate Capital Management Ltd. on behalf of OE Infrastructure Fund.

Carillion Health Solutions participated in an open, fair and competitive procurement process and submitted the proposal with the best value for Ontario taxpayers.

CAMH Phase 1B Redevelopment Project

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is a teaching and research hospital, fully affiliated with the University of Toronto . CAMH uses the latest in scientific advances (i.e., integrated clinical practice, health promotion, education, policy and research) to transform the lives of people affected by addiction and mental illness.

Phase 1B is the next step in a multi-phased redevelopment of 1001 Queen Street West in downtown Toronto . The redevelopment project will transform an institutional campus into an urban village setting.

Phase 1B of the redevelopment will see the demolition of the existing CAMH administration building and construction of three new buildings:

    
    -   the CAMH Gateway Building, which will house outpatient programming,
        administration and facility support services, and a gymnasium;
    -   the Intergenerational Wellness Centre, a client care building for
        CAMH's Child, Youth & Family and Geriatric Mental Health programs;
        and
    -   the Utilities and Parking Building, which will contain meeting rooms,
        client assessment space, a family support office, a new central plant
        and parking facilities.
    

In total, over 450,000 square feet of new space will be created in this phase.

Phase 1B of the redevelopment project will begin with the demolition of the existing Administration Building in early 2010. Construction of the three new buildings is scheduled to be completed in 2012. At the peak of construction, it is estimated that 350 workers will be on site daily. Labour will be drawn largely from the Greater Toronto Area.

The contract with Carillion Health Services

The CAMH phase 1B project will be delivered using an Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP) model. Under the terms of the project agreement, Carillion will receive annual payments from CAMH over a 30-year period. These payments cover design, construction, project financing and building maintenance for 30 years after construction.

The contract with Carillion is for $293 million in net present dollars, to be delivered by a fixed completion date. The contract agreement also makes Carillion responsible for design errors and omissions, project management and sub-contractor coordination, increases in construction material prices and labour costs, schedule and project completion delays, and other related construction risks. In the past, the public sector assumed these risks; however, the AFP model now transfers these risks to the private sector - to Carillion, in this case.

CAMH's 30-year maintenance agreement with Carillion will ensure that the physical components of its new facilities - roofing structure, windows, floors, elevators, heating and cooling systems and other components - are kept in excellent working condition over the term of the agreement. Under the project agreement, if one of CAMH's new buildings requires a new roof or a new boiler, the private sector replaces and pays for it.

CAMH will remain responsible for clinical care, non-clinical support services (patient transportation, patient food services and medical equipment maintenance) and soft maintenance services (housekeeping, laundry and waste service).

Annual payments to Carillion

The annual payments to Carillion are comparable to a fixed-rate mortgage with maintenance and repair expenses included. For example, if a homeowner signs a mortgage agreement today, the homeowner commits to the cost of the house in today's dollars (this is known as the "net present value"). However, over the lifetime of the mortgage, the homeowner pays monthly mortgage payments plus the costs of updating and maintaining the house during that period. In the case of the CAMH project, while the cost of the contract in net present dollars is equivalent to $293 million , after 30 years, this will total approximately $551 million .

Annual payments to Carillion are performance-based. Payments can be withheld if Carillion does not meet the agreed-upon performance standards.

Additional project costs

CAMH is responsible for the following non-capital and fixed costs:

    
    -   the cost of replacement equipment, furniture and information
        technology, for which CAMH is 100 per cent responsible;
    -   the cost of permits, architectural and engineering fees, transaction
        fees and project management fees, which are shared with the Ministry
        of Health and Long-Term Care.
    

Disponible en français

For further information: Michael Torres, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, [phone]; Tom Boreskie, Infrastructure Ontario, [phone]