After years of talk, construction on the expansion and renovation of St. Mary's Hospital is set to begin within the week.
The Sunshine Coast Regional Hospital District has selected Calgary-based Graham Construction and Engineering to lead work on the project.
"This project will make a dramatic difference to the people of Sechelt by increasing the size of their hospital by over 50 per cent and providing top-of-the-line patient care," said Health Services Minister Kevin Falcon in a press release. "It will also maximize efficiencies and provide state of the art infection control procedures, improving patient safety."
Graham Construction beat out five other companies in winning the bid for the $44.15-million project, which is expected to take about two years to complete.
When complete, the new hospital will offer single patient rooms with more acute-care bed capacity; a renovated, larger ambulatory care and radiology areas; a new emergency department; and greater surgical capacity. The expansion and renovation has been designed to LEED Gold environmental construction standards.
The Ministry of Health Services is kicking in $26.25 million in funding, while the hospital district is paying $15.9 million. The St. Mary's Hospital Foundation and St. Mary's Hospital Auxiliary are aiming to chip in another $2 million for the purchase of new equipment.
Hospital district chair Barry Janyk said it's good news that construction is about to begin, but the hospital district's job isn't over yet. He said keeping an eye on the finances as construction goes on will be the priority.
One area that is already presenting a problem with that, though, is the harmonized sales tax, which is set to drive up the total cost of the project by about one to two per cent.
"Although all the invoices from the contractor are going to be carefully scrutinized and audited, it would be disappointing if HST actually created an increase in costs and not the decrease that we were anticipating," Janyk said.
He said while the hospital is going to benefit residents of the Coast for years to come, there is also a short-term gain for local labour. In order to staff the construction, Graham Construction is hosting a job fair at Sechelt Indian Band Hall.
"It will be open to all potential candidates who are qualified. I think for anybody that has any trades experience, they're going to be busy for the next couple years because of it. If people want to work locally, there will be the opportunity," he said.
Meanwhile, the Hospital Foundation and Auxiliary's partnership in fundraising has been making significant progress over the last several weeks.
Wendy Griffin, board secretary of the Foundation, said the groups have raised about $600,000 so far. Since the start of September, the two groups have pulled in about $60,000 from the fifth annual St. Mary's Hospital Golf Tournament and the Comedy on the Coast benefit for pediatric care equipment.
