New 14-storey tower at Halifax hospital ready for patients by 2031

The Nova Scotia government has announced it has finalized an agreement to construct a $7.4-billion 14-storey tower at a Halifax hospital site that will be ready for patients by 2031.

Under a deal reached last week with private developer Plenary PCL Health, the province will pay $4.5 billion for the construction of the tower at the Halifax Infirmary and $2.9 billion over 30 years for the operation and maintenance of the new building. Plenary is contracted to build the tower and maintain it over the length of the deal.

On Wednesday, Health Minister Michelle Thompson called the project "the largest piece of health-care infrastructure ever undertaken in Atlantic Canada."

The acute care tower is the centrepiece of the major redevelopment of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre complex in the provincial capital, first announced by the former Liberal government in 2015. The government at the time had estimated the cost of the redevelopment would be about $2 billion.

"We are now moving a project forward that has been languishing for a very long time," Thompson said. "These new facilities will serve future generations for years to come."

Soon after it was first elected in August 2021, the Progressive Conservative government pushed back timelines for the project as it reassessed its scope. In December 2022, Premier Tim Houston announced that work on the redevelopment of the Halifax Infirmary site would proceed as a public-private partnership and in a staggered manner with the most urgent parts completed sooner.

Thompson expressed confidence that the project timeline is "firm," adding that "it's not going to get any cheaper than it is today."

"There are a lot of issues that cause inflationary pressures, we need to start this now," she said. "I have confidence in the process that's brought the team to this number and this facility, and I'm confident in the planning process that has gone into it to date."

Officials said construction of the tower, which will be connected to the existing hospital building, would begin in May with the building ready to receive its first patients in the fall of 2031. Once completed, the new tower will add 216 beds, 16 operating rooms, a 48-bed intensive care unit and an emergency department that is nearly twice the size of the hospital's current facility.

As well, inpatient and surgical services currently delivered at the nearby Victoria General Hospital site will move to the new tower when it opens.

Paul Knowles, an executive with PCL Construction, said as many as 900 workers are expected to be employed at the site during the peak of construction, scheduled for 2027-28. About 65 to 70 per cent of the workforce is expected to be Nova Scotian, he said.

"Which leaves about 30 to 35 per cent coming out to supplement the local workforce in trades that just don't have enough people here for the size and pace of this project."

The plan for 2025 is to pour the foundation footing and walls of the lower levels of the tower up to the main floor, and erect the four cranes that will be used to construct the building, Knowles said.

Meanwhile, officials said master planning will continue on the next phases of the redevelopment, which will include cancer care services and a determination of the immediate future use of the Victoria General Hospital.