One-site hospital taking shape: Sudbury Regional Hospital project is on time and on budget.

• Author: Ulrichsen, Heidi
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT: CONSTRUCTION - Report

When Guy Logan of EllisDon agreed to head Phase 2 of construction on Sudbury's one-site hospital, he didn't realize he was stepping into "a political maelstrom."

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"Everyone was looking for it to be tripped up and become delayed," said the general superintendent at the southern Ontario construction company, speaking to the media this spring after a tour of the hospital construction site.

"That's why I want to make sure that everyone understands that we are definitely on time and on budget."

Now that construction is well underway, the majority of patients being treated at the Laurentian site have been temporarily moved into the south tower of the hospital, which was completed during Phase 1, but had sat mostly vacant until recently.

"We're currently renovating the north tower, or the old portion of the hospital. We're renovating levels seven, eight and nine. After that, we'll start on the heli-pad," said Logan, who has worked on three other hospital projects.

"The east addition is the new emergency department. We've done the demolition there, and the structural steel is being put up. The structural steel is up for the centre tower penthouse. You're witnessing right now the elevators and the stairs for the centre tower being put up."

It's not news to anyone in Greater Sudbury that construction on the 439-bed hospital has had a long and often troubled history.

Construction on Phase 1 began in 1998, but was halted in 2002 after massive cost overruns. The project did not re-start until a year ago.

EllisDon will be paid $131.9 million for Phase 2 of the project. With the cost of furniture, equipment, permits, architectural and engineering fees, the cost for Phase 2 works out to $225 million. The entire cost of both phases of the project will work out to $362 million.

The one-site hospital is being built under the province's alternate financing and procurement (AFP) strategy.

The plan lets the lowest-bidding contractor borrow money privately to finance the project. When construction is complete, the province will pay the contractor back.

The idea is that the contractors will be more motivated to finish the project on time and on budget because they are borrowing the money themselves.

Logan said most construction will be complete by early December 2009, with all the finishing touches and moving completed by March 2010.

The project is extremely challenging because construction workers have to co-exist with patients, he said. At...