Windsor Regional Hospital president and CEO David Musyj speaks with reporters on March 5, 2020. Photo by Mark Brown/WindsorNewsToday.caWindsor Regional Hospital president and CEO David Musyj speaks with reporters on March 5, 2020. Photo by Mark Brown/WindsorNewsToday.ca
Windsor

Timetable now set for construction of new hospital

We now have an idea of when construction will take place on Windsor-Essex's new acute care hospital.

Windsor Regional Hospital announced on Tuesday afternoon a timetable for the planning and construction of the new hospital, which will go up on County Road 42 near Windsor Airport.

The Stage Two planning phase has been ongoing since October 2021, and with multiple mentions in the recently-tabled 2022 Ontario budget, the tendering process can begin in early 2025.

"That’s pretty exciting to have a timeline now set. This is a very complicated and also expensive project," said Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj. "We are very happy with the dates selected. Yes, I would love to be sticking shovels in the ground now, and I wish we would have. But we could have if we were funded back in 2017 when it was announced to go to stage two, if we were given the money to actually start stage two."

A planning, design, and performance Request for Proposals (RFP) has already been put out, with an architect chosen by the end of the summer. The architect will then work with the project management team on the design of the building, to be finished before 2025.

"This is going to happen, and we have a ton of work to do between now and 2025 when we go to market, and it's going to be pretty exciting to get the shovels in the ground in 2027," said Musyj.

The hospital said the planning process is moving along as expected. A team of engineers and architects will soon begin using the functional program to create block schematic plans, which will provide an idea of how the hospital's rooms will go. The hospital is hoping to have that part of the planning completed and sent to the Ontario Ministry of Health by early 2023.

The construction period is expected to last four years.

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