Building the Future of Care Together:
Let’s Get Planning!

With the location of the new hospital site confirmed in July 2024, planning for the new hospital facilities began in September.

 

As part of the Site Planning due diligence, the architects did a “test-fit” to ensure the building of the new hospital could be accommodated on the site in different phases.

It is important to note that the FINAL lay-out of the new hospital will be determined through full engagement of internal and external parties.

This is a CONCEPTUAL lay-out and is subject to change during the planning phases.

Functional Programming Kicks-off

Engagement is key to planning for the new hospital, and a requirement by the Ministry of Health.

The Building the Future of Care Together (BFCT) Redevelopment Team kicked off Stage 1.3 – Part A known as Functional Programming on September 18th.

 

What is Functional Programming?

Functional Programming looks at every program, service and activity that will be delivered in the new facility, and the resources and space required to ultimately deliver those services.

To do this, 42 hospital program teams, or user groups with over 250 participants (doctors, nurses, lab techs, food services and environmental services staff, and so many more) are meeting to discuss details such as:

  • services offered,
  • patient volumes and flow,
  • what departments should be located close to each other,
  • what are the hours of operation,
  • how many staff work in that area,
  • projected population growth over the next 10, 20 + 25 years,
  • a proposed building solution on the site describing new construction,
  • associated engineering reports (i.e., traffic studies, parking, geotechnical, etc.),

Representatives and subject matter experts are meeting with healthcare facility planning consultants over the course of the three sessions through to the end of January 2025. When this work is done, a Functional Program document will be drafted and finalized by each group to ensure the Functional Program is detailed and as accurate as possible. This will provide the architects and designers a clear guide for how the new facility needs to be designed and built.

What’s next?

What’s next?

In late January 2025, once Functional Programming meetings are complete, the Redevelopment Team will kick-off Stage 1.3 – Part B, Design Development.

This work over a four-month period will include a series of three more user group meetings to help determine:

  • design and spatial requirements,
  • planning and design objectives,
  • phasing plan (what is built first and when),
  • preliminary furniture and equipment list,
  • a capital project budget that reflects the costs associated with the building,
  • a preliminary post construction operating plan (cost to operate the building upon completion),
  • financial reports (cost of building, local share plan, etc.), and
  • a proposed project schedule that overviews the anticipated submissions, approvals and awards of the various project stages as determined upon with the Ministry of Health and Infrastructure Ontario.

The purpose of Stage 1.3 – Part A is to identify how the new hospital will function, and what spaces will be required to support that function. The purpose of Stage 1.3 – Part B is to ensure that the form of the building can accommodate the space required to function in a way that conforms to space standards and benchmarks and is in alignment with construction and future operating costs. By the end of this stage (1.3), the hospital should provide a sufficient level of detail in its submission such that an Architect/Integrated Project Team could design the new hospital facility.

The hospital Redevelopment Team is working towards June 2025 to submit the Functional Program to the Ministry of Health.

What is the timeline of the new construction?

Redeveloping and repurposing Kitchener-Waterloo’s current hospital facilities

Building a new hospital in Waterloo is one component of the overall “Facilities Master Plan” to meet the growing needs of our community and provide modern facilities as our dedicated health care professionals provision high-quality care for the patients we serve.

The BFCT Redevelopment Team is also identifying how the current hospital facilities (KW Site, Freeport Site and St. Mary’s General Hospital (until it is decommissioned around 2034) will be redeveloped and repurposed to support ongoing delivery of care by the new hospital corporation. While there have been renovations over time at the current hospital sites, work needs to be completed to keep the buildings modern and functional.

A detailed road map or “Master Plan” for this work is being developed in alignment with the planning of the new hospital site in Waterloo.

Fast Facts – New Hospital Site

  • Additional patient beds

  • Single patient rooms

Together GRH + SMGH have:

  • Staff members

  • Learners

  • Volunteers

  • Credentialled physicians

  • Credentialled midwives