'Reasonable' building year expected.

• Author: SITTER, KEN

Construction industry kept busy by hospital development around the North

New hospital projects valued at more than $700 million are leading construction activity throughout Northern Ontario.

Thunder Bay, Sudbury and Wawa currently have new hospitals under construction with a total value of more than $300 million, while new hospitals in North Bay and Sault Ste. Marie with a total value of $400,000 are in the development stage.

Of the region's larger centres, only Timmins, which has a hospital less than 10 years old, is without a major hospital project.

Sudbury's new $130-million plus regional hospital is now at peak construction activity and is a factor. in the industry expecting a reasonable building year, says Ron Martin, executive director of the Sudbury Construction Association.

A new $160-miflion regional hospital is also the largest construction project in Thunder Bay, says Harold Lindstrom, manager of the Thunder Bay Construction Association. Both new hospitals are expected to open in the fall of 2002.

Meanwhile, a $13-million-project to replace the existing Lady Dunn Hospital in Wawa is helping to keep construction trades in Sault Ste. Marie active while they wait for construction activity of the city's own new $175-million facility, Rick Thomas, head of the Sault Ste. Marie Construction Association, says.

Officials in Sault Ste. Marie are still in the site-selection stage, making actual construction activity unlikely for this year, but several new long-term care facilities are further into the process and should come on stream this year, adds Thomas.

North Bay's new $225-million hospital, which includes a psychiatric care pavillion as a major component, is also further along, but tenders are not expected until late next year.

"Health care will certainly be a big area for us over the next two or three years," Thomas said. Sault Ste. Marie is also expected to become home to a new regional cancer care clinic within the next few years.

Construction in Sault Ste. Marie to date this year has been slow and behind the pace set in 2000, Thomas says. But the city has several projects in development - a new remand centre, changes to the east end sewage treatment plant, and "an aggressive capital program at Sault College" - which could boost activity back to last year's pace, he adds.

"If we get some of this moving, we could get caught up and carry on into next year," Thomas says.

Activity is now under way on a $75-million redevelopment of...