What was expected to be a fall opening this year has been pushed to the spring of 2013 for the new St. Mary's Hospital wing.
"St. Mary's Hospital is the largest and most complex capital project currently under construction at the moment in Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH)," said Brenda Langevin, director VCH Coastal/Powell River/Sunshine Coast. "While we had hoped to open the new wing to patients and the community this fall, constructing this project has resulted in unforeseen technical holdups. This means we must postpone our planned move-in until early next year."
Construction on the $44.1 million hospital project began in the spring of 2010 and was divided into three phases.
The first phase included running services to the site and excavating it while phase two saw construction of a 5,400-square-metre expansion, which is still being worked on.
The wing is expected to be complete and opened to the public in the spring of 2013, which is when phase three will begin.
Phase three will see the existing facility renovated to integrate it into the new building.
When fully complete in 2014, St. Mary's Hospital will have increased in size by almost 50 per cent.
It will include a new expanded emergency department, new inpatient units with single occupancy rooms, washrooms and showers, an expanded diagnostic imaging department and larger ambulatory care, mental health and addictions departments.
The building will also be the first within VCH to be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold certified.
