RC119 JulyAugust 2025 - Magazine - Page 26
shows that pleasant surroundings and access to daylight
and nature lead to shorter hospital stays,” said Groen. “It
goes beyond just functionality and takes into consideration
the environment and the human being.”
According to Groen, mass timber is one of the only building materials that allow the sequestration of carbon—which
makes it the perfect energy yin to a hospital’s yang.
“A hospital is an energy-intensive building—they’re like
gas guzzlers,” said Groen. “The PECMH design considers
The new PECMH’s mass
timber superstructure,
designed by HDR, will be
assembled on site using
precision-fit engineered
wood from Quebec’s
Nordic Structure.
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both the embodied and operational carbon footprint in a
way never seen before in North America. By using a structural system that not only has low embodied carbon, but
actually sequesters carbon as the backbone of the facility
(the part that will rarely if ever be renovated), the building
builds upon this with a well insulated envelope, a conservative window to wall ratio and a multitude of energy saving
systems such as photovoltaics and a geothermal plant to
rede昀椀ne how a hospital can be designed and built in the
North American context.”
According to Je昀昀 Mosher, HDR’s associate health principal and the PECMH project manager, the new hospital’s
geothermal system will provide 50 per cent of the hospital’s
cooling and 90 per cent of its heating.
“To achieve this, 90 bore holes have been drilled on
site,” said Mosher. “Rather than use air cooled compressors
for areas requiring refrigeration, the hospital will be on a
chilled water loop, and we are pulling the 24/7 heat load
back to the heat pump to augment the geothermal heating.”
The new building will also sport solar panels on the roof,
which will help to lower electricity operating costs by an
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estimated $1.9 million and to avoid the use of 2,000 tons of
carbon during the panels’ lifespan. Some parts of the building will also have green roofs that will hold and/or absorb
rainfall and help to feed insects and pollinate plants.
For Groen, the use of mass timber as the primary building materials is both the key component and the perfect peg
for the PECMH project. “It’s symbolic of colonial and early
Canadian construction in rural and regional Ontario,” said
Groen, whose o昀케ce is in a timber-squared framed building in Kingston. “And wood expresses
warmth and it’s a known, natural building material that is connected to people
and history.”
He said he was amazed to see mass
timber used to build healthcare and
other public buildings in Denmark
during a visit there a decade ago. But it
was the feedback he got from people in
Picton during the many public consultations that he and his team shepherded
after HDR won the hospital project
in 2019 that sent the community and
project stakeholders on what he calls “an
odyssey” to build the 100,000-squarefoot, two-storey mass timber healthcare
building—a feat believed to be a 昀椀rst in
North America on that scale.
“What we discovered through these
sessions was just how important this
facility was to the community—that
it was at the core of the town and the
county,” said Groen. “They made it
very clear that they wanted something
special, something civic that 昀椀t the needs
and times of their community, much like
their old hospital did. Before long we
were encouraged to go beyond not just a
sense of responsibility to the region but
perhaps to the planet in how we would
ultimately design the facility.”
Stacey Daubs agrees. As president and
CEO of Quinte Health, a regional board
that operates four hospitals—PECMH,
Belleville General Hospital, North Hastings Hospital,
and Trenton Memorial Hospital—she said innovation and
sustainability emerged as key considerations in public consultations with the community.
“They wanted a modern, sustainable, healing environment,” said Daubs, who was hired during the pandemic in
early 2021, after the PECMH project had been greenlit by
the province and other stakeholders.
Though it has had a few renovations and upgrades over
the past 65 years, Daubs said the current Prince Edward
County Hospital no longer meets the needs and norms of
modern medicine.
“It has shared bathrooms and infection control challenges,” she said. “And the ER doesn’t have a CT scanner,
something the new building will be equipped with.”
She said the new facility’s increased capabilities, accessibility and curbside appeal will be better suited to meet the
county’s health care needs.
Daubs said that when she arrived, HDR had already won
the design competition and the 昀椀ve-stage capital planning
process was well underway. Then the pandemic hit, throw-
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HDR
HEALTHCARE INFRASTRUCTURE
