Contract awarded for Women's College Hospital redevelopment project

TORONTO, July 14 /CNW/ - Women's College Hospital and Infrastructure Ontario today announced that Women's College Partnership has signed a contract to design, build, finance and maintain the hospital's redevelopment project in downtown Toronto.

This project will involve the construction of a new 630,000 square foot hospital on the hospital's current Grenville Street site. The redeveloped Women's College Hospital will replace all existing buildings and consolidate most hospital services in one location, enabling innovation in ambulatory models of care and enhancing the hospital's stature as a leader in women's health care, research and education.

Today's announcement signifies that all contractual steps have been completed and the project can move forward. Construction of the new building is expected to be underway in fall 2010 and completed in 2016. The construction project will provide a sizeable stimulus to the regional economy by directly and indirectly creating and supporting thousands of jobs. At the peak of construction, it is estimated that 300 workers will be on site daily. Labour will be drawn largely from the Greater Toronto Area.

Highlights of Women's College Hospital's capital redevelopment project include:

    
    -   State-of-the-art ambulatory facility designed with specialized
        clinics and surgical suites that integrate prevention, disease
        management, treatment, research and education providing better
        patient flow, technology and an improved patient experience;

    -   Easily accessible hub of programs, clinics and services that enable
        teams of care providers to help prevent and manage patient's diseases
        and conditions - based on how women lead their lives. This includes
        primary care, chronic disease management, surgical services, urgent
        care, gynaecology, diagnostics and mental health programs, all
        delivered in a flexible patient-centred, ambulatory model;

    -   Improved access for medical and diagnostic imaging services in an
        ambulatory setting;

    -   Co-location of research, education and patient care spaces to create
        improved knowledge translation between researchers, educators and
        clinicians;
    

The new building will allow for an expansion of existing programs including two new operating rooms and will increase the size of the Urgent Care Centre and Clinical Decisions Unit.

All the new buildings will be designed with environmentally responsible and sustainable features in order to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, which includes rigorous requirements for energy management and conservation.

Women's College Hospital's redevelopment project will be delivered using an Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP) model. Women's College Partnership will receive annual payments from Women's College Hospital over a 30-year period following construction completion. 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 $941 million after 30 years. In today's dollars, this is equivalent to approximately $460 million.

"This project is part of the largest reinvestment in health care facilities in Ontario in more than a generation," said the Honourable Brad Duguid, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure. "By investing in our health care infrastructure, we are stimulating the economy, creating jobs and building stronger and healthier communities."

"We are designing a hospital like no other. Our state-of-the-art facility will be an easily accessible hub of programs, clinics and services that integrates care, research and education - all based on how women lead their lives. It will be a hospital designed to keep people out of the hospital," said Marilyn Emery, President and CEO of Women's College Hospital. "We extend our gratitude to the government and our community for their ongoing commitment to making our bold vision become a reality, and look forward to a long and productive relationship with Women's College Partnership."

Infrastructure Ontario and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care are working with Women's College Hospital on the redevelopment. Women's College Hospital 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.

For more information, visit www.womenscollegehospital.ca/redevelopment and www.infrastructureontario.ca.

Disponible en français

Backgrounder

    
                                                               July 14, 2010

                         CONSTRUCTION SET TO BEGIN ON
               WOMEN'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT
    

Women's College Partnership (WCP) has signed a contract with Women's College Hospital to design, build, finance and maintain the hospital's redevelopment project in Toronto. The WCP team includes:

    
    Developer:             Bilfinger Berger Project Investments
    Design:                Perkins Eastman Black/IBI Group
    Construction:          The Walsh Group/Bondfield Construction
    Facilities Management: Black & McDonald Ltd./HSG Zander
    Financial Advisor:     Bilfinger Berger Project Investments
    

Construction and long-term financing for the Women's College Hospital project is being provided by Banco Espirito Santo de Investimento, S.A., New York branch; Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank; ING Capital LLC; and Société Générale.

Women's College Partnership participated in an open, fair and competitive procurement process and submitted the proposal with the best value for Ontario taxpayers.

Women's College Hospital Redevelopment Project

The new Women's College Hospital will be constructed on the hospital's current Grenville Street site in two phases. The first phase will be built on the site of the hospital's parking structure, which will be demolished in summer 2010. Upon completion of this initial phase, hospital clinics and services will move into this section of the new facility, allowing the second phase of construction to begin. When the second phase of construction is complete in 2016, most hospital services will be in one location. At the peak of construction, it is estimated that 300 workers will be on site daily.

The contract with Women's College Partnership

The Women's College Hospital redevelopment project will be delivered using an Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP) model. Under the terms of the project agreement, WCP will receive annual payments from Women's College Hospital over a 30-year period following construction completion. These payments cover design, construction, project financing and building maintenance for 30 years after construction.

The contract with WCP is for $460 million in net present dollars, to be delivered by a fixed completion date. The contract agreement also makes WCP 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 WCP, in this case.

Women's College Hospital's 30-year maintenance agreement with WCP 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 Women's College Hospital's new building requires a new roof or a new boiler, the private sector replaces and pays for it.

Women's College Hospital 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 services).

Annual payments to Women's College Partnership

The annual payments to Women's College Partnership 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 Women's College Hospital project, while the cost of the contract in net present dollars is equivalent to $460 million, after 30 years, this will total approximately $941 million.

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

Additional project costs

Women's College Hospital is responsible for the following non-capital and fixed costs:

    
    -   the cost of replacement equipment, furniture and information
        technology, for which Women's College Hospital 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: Jodi Salem, Women's College Hospital, [phone] ext. 4054; Tom Boreskie, Infrastructure Ontario, [phone]