Centre hospitalier de l’université de Montréal (CHUM)

Once complete, the new hospital will provide 772 private rooms, a critical care unit and 39 operating theatres, including dedicated rooms for robotic surgery, heart surgery, neurosurgery and transplants. Innovative features include a network of self-guided vehicles to carry equipment around the hospital – expected to make 3,500 journeys a day – plus nine kilometers of pneumatic tubing for efficient delivery of drugs, blood samples and other items. Cancer patients will also benefit from treatment rooms equipped with state-of-the-art linear accelerators, facilitating faster, more accurate radiotherapy.

The CHUM Research Centre, a major new knowledge hub for the city, opened its doors in 2013, marking the end of phase one of this mammoth scheme. The second phase – construction of the main hospital – is currently under way. Under the third and final phase, due to complete in 2020, the old Hôpital Saint-Luc will be demolished to make way for additional clinical space, as well as offices and a copper-clad amphitheater. This striking structure will form the centerpiece of the wider complex and contain a 500-seat auditorium.

WSP is part of the consortium hired to project manage the research center and general hospital, and to provide a range of other services including cost, schedule, change and risk management. The scale of this project led the team to create new processes and management tools including a new project office to enable synergies and efficient communication; performance benchmarks; regular team workshops and client and stakeholder meetings; and processes that ensured the evaluation and choice of partners met key criteria. These innovative management methods have resulted in a unique collaboration with the client and the opportunity for us to achieve key milestones.

The complex includes a number of green features, such as efficient plumbing fixtures that will help reduce fresh water consumption by 30% compared to a similar, standard building, plus a unique HVAC design that will make CHUM the only hospital in North America to supply 100% fresh air throughout the building. The research center has already been awarded LEED Gold and the hospital is aiming for LEED Silver.