RC119 JulyAugust 2025 - Magazine - Page 24
HEALTHCARE INFRASTRUCTURE
SUPER-STRUCTURE
North America’s first all mass timber acute care
hospital being built in Ontario by Mark Cardwell
MALL IS BEAUTIFUL—the notion that small spaces can
be designed and built with more user-friendly
features, functionality and elegance in mind—is
something architect Jason-Emery Groen refers to
often when he talks about the mass timber hospital
his 昀椀rm is currently building in the Ontario town
of Picton, 160 kilometres east of Toronto and an hour’s
drive west of Kingston.
“Healthcare facilities are typically signi昀椀cantly expensive
and challenging to build,” said Groen, senior vice president
and design director in the Canadian o昀케ces of global design
and engineering 昀椀rm HDR. “(But) the hospital in Picton is
at a community scale. From a design standpoint, it gave us
a unique opportunity to innovate.”
Known o昀케cially as the Quinte Health—Prince Edward
County Memorial Hospital (PECMH) Site Redevelopment
Project by Infrastructure Ontario, which is footing 90 per
cent of the project’s $153.8-million capital cost, the new
Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital will be a leading-edge healthcare facility designed to meet the current
and future capacity needs of the local community.
When it opens in 2027, the new hospital will feature
improved equipment and facilities including 23 inpatient
beds, a 24-hour emergency department, helipad, surgical
suite, dialysis unit and other specializations.
Work on the new facility, which is being built right next
to the existing hospital in Picton, began in August of 2024
with the demolition of the current helipad and preparation
for geothermal well drilling and the forming of foundations
and piers.
Once that work is complete, the new building’s mass
timber superstructure will be assembled on site using precision-昀椀t engineered, Forest Stewardship Council-compliance
wood from Nordic Structure in Chibougamau, Que.
“The next phase will be to close in the building and ready
for installation of the infrastructure and 昀椀nishes on the
interior,” said Groen. “As equipment is being installed and
ultimately commissioned, landscaping will start around
the new areas of the site while the hospital readies to move
from the existing facility to the new facility.”
Once the move is complete, the existing hospital will
be demolished, a new parking area will be built and the
S
Mark Cardwell is a
freelance writer based in
the Quebec City region.
24
RENEW CANADA – JULY/AUGUST 2025
grounds will be landscaped, complete with
public walkways and a private garden area
for hospital sta昀昀.
The work will be carried out by M. Sullivan
and Son Ltd., a well-known, century-old general contractor with four o昀케ces in Northern
and Easten Ontario, including Kingston, Ottawa, Sudbury and Arnprior, where the 昀椀rm is
headquartered.
Sullivan has worked with HDR on several
other healthcare and science-related projects
over the years, including the gastrointestinal
diseases research unit of Queen’s University
and Kingston Health Sciences Centre—the
昀椀rst project Groen designed early in his 25year architect career.
For Groen, who was born and raised in
Kingston and grew up working in his family’s
residential renovation business, becoming
a licensed carpenter before leaving home
to study architecture at the University of
Waterloo—then returning to work for Mill &
Ross, a Kingston architectural 昀椀rm that HDR
acquired in 2007—the design of the new hospital is both a re昀氀ection of modern times and
a full circle for HDR, which built the current
hospital that opened on Oct. 1, 1959.
“Design re昀氀ects the changing times,” said
Groen. “The image of what made a good
hospital back then was clear organization. Architecture was designed to inspire con昀椀dence
in the growing universal healthcare system,
which was new to Canada.”
Like with schools and public o昀케ce buildings, he said the style and materials of
hospitals shared elements that re昀氀ected standardization and centralized authority. “Even
the green glazed tiles on the interior spoke to
cleanliness and sterility,” said Groen.
Today, he said, the architectural approach to
health care and healthcare facilities leans more
towards wellness and comfort. “Evidence
