Interior Health, the publicly funded healthcare provider in an area of the Canadian province of British Columbia and a consortium led by Canadian infrastructure developer EllisDon Capital last week finalized the contract for a new patient care tower and parkade at Penticton Regional Hospital through a P3 contract, in British Columbia (Canada).

The team also includes Ontario Pension Board (equity providers); EllisDon (design-builder), Parkin Architects Limited (architect); Cofely Services Inc. (service provider), EllisDon Facility Services Inc. (service provider).

The project will be developed on a design, build, finance, and maintain (DBFM) basis. The contract period will be 30 years.

EllisDon Infrastructure financed the Penticton Patient Care Tower Project with a Green Bond thanks to the achievement of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification. The financing has been assured of its green attributes by Altus Group Limited, an industry-respected consultant and technical advisor for public and private-sector infrastructure projects.

Based on the EllisDon bid, the capital budget for the project is now C$312.5 million (around US$216 million). The OkanaganSimilkameen Regional Hospital District is providing C$117 million, the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation is contributing $20-million, Interior Health is providing C$14.4 million, and the provincial portion is C$161.1-million.

EllisDon beat out competition from two other teams that were in the shortlist led by Plenary Group and Gracorp Capital Partners LP.

The project includes two phases:

• Phase one is construction of the new patient care tower which will include an ambulatory care centre, surgical services centre, 84 medical/surgical inpatient beds in single patient rooms, a new medical device reprocessing unit, and space for the UBC Faculty of  Medicine program. The tower will be approximately 26,700 square metres (287,500 square feet).

• Phase two involves the renovation of vacated areas in the current hospital, including increasing the size of the emergency department to nearly four times its current size.

Clinical, housekeeping, and food services will be provided by Interior Health.