CORNER BROOK, N.L. — Standing on what will be the sixth floor of the new regional acute care hospital in Corner Brook, it’s hard to imagine the building's steel structure hadn’t even been started a year ago.
Charles Gunning, senior project manager with PCL Constructors Canada Inc./Marco Group, was on the site on Aug. 16, 2019 when the official sod-turning ceremony took place and has watched the project grow ever since.
PCL and Marco are part of the Corner Brook Health Partnership, a consortium of companies awarded the contract to design, build, finance and maintain the facility under the P3 (public-private partnership) model.
My west coast visit on Friday also included a tour of the new Corner Brook hospital. Good to be on the construction site while they installed the first portion of the walls. pic.twitter.com/jSWfxyCH21
— Andrew Furey (@FureyAndrew) August 15, 2020
Once some site work was completed, construction started with the pouring of concrete footings in late September. Many of those footings are underground and were backfilled to protect against frost.
“So, a lot of our work (was) immediately covered up. Nobody could actually see anything,” said Gunning.
There was one big wall on the east side of the site that was actively poured all winter and the builders were getting ready for April 1 to start on structural steel.
But then came mid-March and COVID-19 and Gunning said there were concerns that would affect the project.
"There was some clarification that we really needed to sort out with the different rules.”
But this province didn’t shut down construction sites and Gunning said there was no concern with requirements for self-isolation among workers.
“Essentially, the project just really (is starting) to increase in all areas/" — Charles Gunning
The builders track employment on the project and just passed the 100,000-worker-hours mark, with 90,000 of those hours going to workers from inside the province.
They have procedures in place that cover social distancing on the site.
“And when you can’t physically distance, you’ve got the masks, gloves and goggles," said Gunning, who said at one point, all workers were wearing full respirators.
Despite issues and challenges, Gunning said they were still ready for April 1.
“And we started within 10 days of that with the big structural steel," he said.
The steelwork should be completed by the end of October and the pouring of concrete will continue up until Christmas.
Last week, the first of the building’s prefabricated exterior walls went up. Using prefab walls is part of the health and safety program of the build. In a traditional build, workers would have to put on harnesses and assemble pieces from the outside, but the prefabricated walls are put in place by a lift and screwed in place from the inside.
There is also an innovative guardrail system in place that enables workers to get fences up faster. There are also different procedures for offloading trucks.
As the walls go up, work will move to the inside of the more than 600,000-square-foot building.
“Essentially, the project just really starts to increase in all areas,” said Gunning. The studs happen, the rough-in happens, floor-levelling, boarding.
On the outside, there’ll be siding installed and a geothermal field with 375 geothermal wells drilled for heating and cooling of the building. The wells will be located underneath one of the parking lots, with pipes going into the building.
“The builders are on time and on budget. From the point of view of construction, it’s as if the pandemic didn’t occur." — Gerry Byrne
The actual design of the spaces inside hasn’t been finalized yet, although Gunning says that’s not uncommon at this stage of a build, especially since that part of the process has been impacted by COVID-19. In normal times. the designers would hold user-group sessions with doctors, nurses, cleaning staff, kitchen staff and administrators.
“All of a sudden, COVID hits and you have four rounds of user groups to go through, but you can’t sit with the users.”
By switching to an online format, Gunning said they’ve been able to continue the process and have just one group left to consult.
“That could have really derailed us if they hadn’t been so accommodating. Without their input, we would have had to find some really risky ways to keep the design on track.”
Gunning expects there will be more challenges, but he’s confident they’ll have no trouble completing the building by Nov. 7, 2023.
That’s something Corner Brook MHA Gerry Byrne also believes will happen.
“The progress … 12 months out, is fantastic and quite frankly, remarkable, give the fact we faced a global pandemic in the process," said Byrne, suggesting that speaks to the strength of the P3 model for the building of large public projects.
“The builders are on time and on budget. From the point of view of construction, it’s as if the pandemic didn’t occur.
“We’re going to see the largest hospital that we’ve ever seen before constructed on time at this rate. No concerns.”
Twitter: @western_star
