With less than a year to go until the Centennial and East Pandosy buildings open, activity on the construction site at KGH is intense and fast-paced, with over 250 workers on site at any given time.

If you travel on Pandosy Street at all, you will notice the speed at which the East Pandosy Building is going up. The concrete for the second of three floors has been poured and they are hard at work on columns and walls.

The East Pandosy Building is less technically complex from a construction perspective, and at just over 84,000 square feet, is much smaller than the 360,000 square foot Centennial Tower. Therefore construction can proceed at a much quicker pace. And it has to – after all, the two buildings will be connected by a third floor bridge link over Pandosy Street and will open on the same day: May 27, 2012.

The interior of the Centennial Tower continues to move ahead, with finishing being done in various areas on all floors. Cleaning is also underway in a number of areas on the first, second and third floors. As each area is completed and cleaned, it is locked off to prevent the need to go back in and clean all over again.

Now that summer is here (finally!) ground work has started on the exterior of the building, with the installation of the underground water retention system. Hardscaping will follow, with landscaping only being done once the building is ready for occupancy.

Graham Construction crews and their sub-trades are hard at work on building commissioning. What commissioning consists of is starting up all of the building mechanical and electrical systems to ensure they are operating properly. Connection to systems in existing facilities is now complete and is being tested.

Because of the amount of activity at the site recently, the regular Tuesday and Wednesday Centennial Building orientation tours for staff were halted temporarily, but have re-started this month. Please be patient as we try to get as many people into the building as possible to see their future work areas.

With just over 14 months until the new Centennial Patient Care Tower opens, anticipation and excitement is growing at Kelowna General Hospital.

The outside of the building is looking a lot like it will when completed, save for the completion of the new main entrance, some finishing touches and of course landscaping.

Inside the tower, it’s starting to look a lot like a hospital. The first, second and third levels have flooring in, as well as the ceiling grid. Lighting and millwork (fixed furniture and cabinetry) are being installed, as are sinks, taps and bathroom fixtures. Wall protection and hand and bump rails are also being put in.

The walls are going into the fifth and sixth floors. These floors will house the new McNair Psychiatric Unit (fifth floor) and new and relocated medical and surgical beds (sixth floor) in order to make way for the demolition of the old Pandosy building prior to construction of the Interior Heart and Surgical Centre (IHSC).

In addition to the Psychiatric Unit and patient beds, all of the labs and support services that are housed in the existing Pandosy Building will be moving across the street to the new East Pandosy Clinical Support Building. Ground was broken at the end of February, and Graham Design Build Services is now putting the footings in for the foundation of that building. It will be connected to the Centennial Tower by a third storey walkway across Pandosy.

Speaking of the IHSC, the Request for Qualifications was issued a couple of weeks ago. The RFQ seeks companies to submit expressions of interest in being qualified to construct and maintain the new building. This process will take until June, when a select group of companies will be shortlisted and invited to respond to a Request for Proposals.

Meanwhile, staffing for the transitional cardiac program continues. We have two cardiac catheterization labs working now, and our three interventional cardiologists have performed over 1,000 angioplasties since they opened in November 2009. And just a couple of weeks ago, the first cardiac surgeon, Dr. Guy Fradet, was appointed to lead the cardiovascular surgery program, beginning at the end of 2012.

In spite of the significant amount of activity at the site (over 250 workers are on site at any given time) the projects all remain on schedule and we look forward to February 2012, when we can start moving in to the Centennial and East Pandosy buildings and begin training and orienting staff, physicians and volunteers.

The ambulance bays are shelled in and are being used to stage much of the construction in the Emergency Department. These ambulance bays will be a big improvement over the old ones, as there is much more room to maneuver, they are all pull-through bays, and will be well-protected from the weather.

The ER has really come along since the last site update. Many rooms already have the drywall on and the flooring is starting to be installed in some areas.

The Ambulatory Care floor (Level 2) is even further along, with paint on the walls and flooring installed in most rooms. The t-bar ceilings have also been installed and lights are on their way, most of the millwork is in place, and exam rooms and procedure rooms are being outfitted.

The third level, where the new Operating Rooms will be, is also well underway, with millwork in place in many areas. The new renal department is absolutely incredible. Much larger than the current space, it’s also infused with natural light from large windows, which will make treatment days much easier to bear for patients.

The UBC student spaces (where they can meet, study and rest while on call) are almost complete. They share the fourth floor with the bulk of the hospital’s mechanical equipment. The fifth and sixth floors are also well underway, with studs and walls being installed, along with mechanical and electrical.

With the announcement that the Interior Heart and Surgical Centre (IHSC) will be built, the builders are also constructing links at strategic points that will connect to bridges between the Centennial Tower and the IHSC building and the East Pandosy Clinical Support Building (CSB).

Speaking of the CSB, you may have heard the contract was awarded to Graham Design-Build Services, a joint venture with Stantec Architecture. They have now started removing the pre-load soil from the site across Pandosy. The next step is vibra-compaction of the site, followed by the start of construction in February.

Inside, the rough in of the first floor, where the Emergency Department will be, is almost complete and in some areas drywall and painting is underway.

Because the ground floor was the last one to be walled in, the second floor is the most complete. Flooring, millwork (cabinets, sinks, fixed furniture, etc.) and light fixtures are being installed on this floor, where most of the ambulatory care, or outpatient, services will be provided. Sliding doors have been installed in the clinical treatment rooms and wall protection and bumper rails have also begun being put in.

Flooring is just beginning on the third floor, and the fourth floor (the main mechanical floor) is taking shape with the arrival of major mechanical equipment and hookups to the building’s major infrastructure.The main electrical service to the building is now live, which means that, as equipment is installed, the process of commissioning and preparing for startup can begin.

Work is also just beginning on finishing portions of the fifth and sixth floors. These floors will house inpatient beds for departments that will need to be moved from the current Pandosy building prior to it being demolished. The demolition needs to happen in 2012 to make way for the new Interior Heart and Surgical Centre (IHSC).

The first phase of the IHSC Project is underway, with the issuance of the Request for Proposals to design and build the Clinical Support Building. Three companies have been invited to respond to the RFP, and their responses are due later this fall. We expect to award the contract by the end of the year, with construction starting in early 2011.

As for the current status of the cardiac program, a third cardiac interventionalist (the doctor who performs angioplasties) has been hired, and we are close to naming the first ever cardiac surgeon to be hired for the program. A second catheterization lab will open this fall, allowing us to increase the number of angioplasty procedures that are done.

If you haven’t been to KGH in a while, you’ll be surprised at the changes in the main
lobby. The new patient care tower has now been joined to the old hospital right about
where the old ambulance and emergency department entrance were. So we’ve moved
the ER waiting area into the lobby, setup a triage desk, and reconfigured the rest of the
lobby.

We think things went pretty well. But we’d love to hear what you think. We’re making the
best of a tricky situation as we turn KGH into a patient care facility for the future.

Construction in the rest of the tower is going well also. The second and third floors are
mostly finished being drywalled. Painting has begun, and millwork (e.g. cabinetry and
fixed furniture) is ready to be installed.

The fourth floor, where the major mechanical and electrical heart of the tower will be
located, is well underway. And the fifth and sixth floors are being readied for patient
rooms.

Installation of the elevators is an interesting story. Because of the large size of the
elevators, the elevator cabs need to be brought in piece by piece and installed inside the
elevator shaft. And speaking of elevator shafts – the main elevator shaft that goes to the
roof to meet incoming helicopter transport patients is almost complete. The heli-pad will
be built in the coming year.

Other things you’ll notice if you wander by KGH is that the outside of the building is
starting to look like a real building in places, as the exterior finishes are being put on.
And the landscaping is all done over at the University of BC and Interior Health Clinical
Academic Campus.

Across the street from the patient care tower, you’ll notice a big pile of dirt. This is the
pre-load to densify the site for the construction of the Clinical Support Building (CSB)
that is the first phase of the Interior Heart and Surgical Centre Project. We’re pretty
excited to announce that the Request for Proposals seeking a builder for the CSB goes
out this summer.

Work continues in all parts of the new Patient Care Tower at Kelowna General Hospital.

Construction of the new tower is still ahead of schedule, and as the weather starts to get
better, you should begin to see even more activity on the site.

All of the mechanical and electrical roughing-in work on the second floor is done, and the
drywallers should be arriving this week. Mechanical and electrical work has started on
the third floor, while framing of the UBC medical school space on the fourth floor is well
underway.

Other than the UBC space, the remainder of the fourth floor will be occupied by the
mechanical and electrical systems for the tower, such as the boiler and heating,
ventilation and air conditioning systems. The fifth and sixth floors are in the process of
being designed.

Meanwhile, back down on the ground floor, you may notice cement trucks arriving on
site this month. That’s because the plumbing, electrical and mechanical all had to be
installed above the concrete raft slab that is supporting the full tower, but below the
concrete slab that will form the actual floor of the emergency department. With that work
done, the floor will now be poured, and work can begin on framing in the emergency
department.

UBC/Parkade

Since we last provided information on the construction progress at KGH, two exciting

events have taken place at the UBC Faculty of Medicine and Interior Health Clinical
Academic Campus.

On January 25, Premier Gordon Campbell officially opened the building, along with UBC
Board Chair Brad Bennett and Interior Health Board Chair Norman Embree and others.

And on February 10, the Interior Health library that is on the ground floor of the UBC
facility was the site of a dedication ceremony to name the library in honour of Dr. Clifford
B. Henderson.

After a well-deserved break for the Christmas holidays, the construction crews working on the new Kelowna General Hospital Patient Care Tower are back hard at work.

Graham Construction, the company building the tower, is almost finished closing in the second through sixth floors. Doing so allows them to heat the inside of the building, which is a big help to the workers doing the electrical and mechanical work inside. (It’s a lot easier to do work such as installing pipe when you don’t have to wear gloves to keep your hands warm!) Work is well underway on the mechanical and electrical rough-in on all floors.

All “mock-ups” have now been completed successfully. What happens in this process is a life-size replica of representative rooms is constructed on site, often including actual hospital equipment. Designers, planners and staff who will be working in building then get a chance to see if the rooms suit their needs. They then have the chance to offer suggestions for necessary changes before the actual rooms are built. This process is especially critical for such things as Operating Rooms and Trauma Bays, where correct placement of beds, equipment, medical gases, lighting and other things is very important.

UBC/Parkade

Thanks to the incredibly hard work of everyone on the Kelowna and Vernon Hospitals Project Team, the Infusion Health team (especially Graham Construction and Black & McDonald) and the UBC team, the new UBC Faculty of Medicine and Interior Health Clinical Academic Campus (CAC) was finished on December 3.

Perhaps some of the most welcome news came just in time for Christmas, when the new 350 stall East Parkade opened. We hope the additional parking will relieve some of the pressure staff and our neighbours have been feeling for the last year as this important construction project has taken place.

Crews are just putting the finishing touches on the CAC building interior, while KGH Library staff have moved in and UBC Faculty of Medicine staff prepare to move into their new offices as well. We expect to celebrate the completion of the Clinical Academic Campus some time in the coming weeks. We’ll keep you posted on the details.

The construction of the new Centennial Patient Care Tower at Kelowna General Hospital continues to run ahead of schedule. In fact, Graham Construction, the company building the six-storey tower, just finished pouring the concrete for the roof. There will be a celebration to mark the accomplishment before the end of November.

The second floor, where the Outpatient Department will be, is currently 90 percent framed in and has had 70 percent of the electrical and mechanical rough-in work completed. The third floor – where the Operating Theatres and Renal Department will be – is about two-thirds framed and halfway through the mechanical and electrical work. Framing and electrical/mechanical fit-out of the fourth floor – the main mechanical and electrical equipment floor – has just begun.

Don’t forget, you can view time-lapse photographs of the construction on our website from a digital web camera. View the image at www.buildingpatientcare.ca/kghwebcam.

UBC/Parkade

In spite of a very, very tight schedule, Graham Construction and their sub-trades have put in a massive and impressive effort to complete the UBC Medical School Clinical Academic Campus on time for the planned handover to Interior Health on December 3. The building is currently being finished inside and out. Rooms are being completed and locked, ready for occupancy, and we expect to be able to start what is called “commissioning” on December 3.

What that means is there are a number of steps that are needed to prepare the building for occupancy. The whole move-in will take approximately two months.

It will be a very busy place in the next little while. The first to move in will be the KGH library, likely in mid-December. The UBC undergraduate medical program and postgraduate medical residents will move in during January. Meanwhile, furniture and audio/visual installation will also be going on.

Parking at KGH

Good news: the new parkade is expected to open in mid- to late-December. Public parking will be available in most of the parkade, with some of the upper levels reserved for staff.

Things are really beginning to take shape at the Kelowna General Hospital construction site. Graham Construction has already started pouring the concrete for the sixth and final floor of the new Patient Care Tower. Once that is done, they start on the roof, which they hope to have on by the end of November.

At that time, we hope to have a “building topping” celebration. This is a construction tradition, whereby when they put the roof on a building, they raise an evergreen branch or tree to “top” it off. Wouldn’t that be a great way to welcome the Christmas season!

Work has begun on the exterior walls of the second, third and fourth floors. Graham hopes to have them closed in before the snow flies so they can work indoors for most of the winter. They have already begun framing on the second and third floors, and are starting to rough in the mechanical and electrical equipment.

Don’t forget, you can view time-lapse photographs of the construction on our website from a digital web camera. View the image at www.buildingpatientcare.ca/kghwebcam.

UBC/Parkade

As our construction manager, Mark Casson, likes to say, “they’re really thumping along” on the final phases of construction of the UBC medical school building and parkade, aiming to hit the December completion target.

The interior finishing of the UBC building is underway. That includes painting, ceiling installation, electrical and mechanical finishing and installation of equipment. The elevators that will link the UBC building to the parkade are being built and installed.

They have finished the concrete in the parkade and are now ready to begin on the “traffic topping,” which is a special material to protect the concrete from all the traffic that will be driving on it in just a couple of months.

Parking at KGH

Please observe all parking regulations on and off the site. And please be respectful of our neighbours by not blocking driveways and by obeying all city parking regulations. Go to www.buildingpatientcare.ca for an up-to-date parking map of the KGH site.

Construction of the new Patient Care Tower at Kelowna General Hospital is ahead of schedule. In fact, the physical structure – the load-bearing columns and floors – is almost half done, concrete is being poured for the fourth floor, and work is beginning on closing in the second and third floors.

We’d like to thank our neighbours and staff for their patience and cooperation, and we’d especially like to acknowledge the BC Ambulance Service, which has been continuing its excellent work despite having to re-route ambulances for the duration of the form work.

Don’t forget, you can view time-lapse photographs of the construction on our website from a newly-installed digital web camera. View the much improved image at www.buildingpatientcare.ca/kghwebcam.

UBC/Parkade

The UBC medical school building is about 85 percent closed-in and the roof is on. Work has started on the interior of the building, beginning with drywall and roughed-in plumbing.

Rebar and finishing concrete are being installed in the new parkade to tie together all of the pieces of pre-cast concrete that were used to build the structure.

And installation of the water tanks to collect rainwater for re-use are now being installed. Doing so is just one way the hospital expansion will meet the requirements for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification.

Parking at KGH

Please observe all parking regulations on and off the site. And please be respectful of our neighbours by not blocking driveways and by obeying all city parking regulations. Go to www.buildingpatientcare.ca for an up-to-date parking map of the KGH site.

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