New ‘state-of-the-art’ hospital set to be built on UW campus

A new hospital will be built on the University of Waterloo campus, officials said in an announcement on Monday.

Details were released by the leadership of Grand River and St. Mary’s General hospitals and the Region of Waterloo. The site is a part of the David Johnston Research + Technology Park at the University of Waterloo.

The hospitals and the school are partnering on the development located west of Bearinger Road and Hagey Boulevard in Waterloo. The acute care hospital is said to be “state-of-the-art” when built.

The institutions are now working to determine how the land will be developed, with the planning process set to take about five years, followed by five years of construction.

The new hospital is set to open in 2034.

“This is a major milestone on our journey in planning for a new hospital and we couldn’t have a better partner than the University of Waterloo,” Ron Gagnon, President and CEO of Grand River Hospital, said.

It will bring more beds and acute care capacity to the region and add services.

“Not only does the location make great sense in terms of patient accessibility, it also allows our organizations to deepen our relationship even further for the benefit of the communities we serve,” Mark Fam, President of St. Mary’s General Hospital, said in a press release.

The new hospital will be one of three campuses operated by the joint hospital organization, including Freeport Campuses currently a part of Grand River.

There are plans to renewed and repurpose the two sites as a part of the development proposal. The future of the St. Mary’s site will be determined by the St. Joseph’s Health System.

“St. Mary’s is going to continue to operate as an acute hospital while this new hospital is being built,” said Mark Fam, CEO and president of St. Mary’s General Hospital. “Once the new hospital opens its doors, all our services that currently get delivered at St. Mary’s, in addition to many of the services at the KW site of Grand River, will move into the new building and will be state of the art care.”

Fam added that St. Joseph Health System is starting to look at broader community needs when determining what the St. Mary’s site will be used for.

Province funding $5M for new hospital

Speaking during a funding announcement in Kitchener on Monday, Doug Ford mentioned that he would be on site for today’s hospital announcement.

“We’re investing more than 50 billion dollars for more than 50 new hospital projects across Ontario (…) including for our new Waterloo Region hospital,” the premier said. “In fact, later today, I’m joining local officials to announce the new site of that hospital.”

A press release from the province shows $5 million in funding is dedicated to the new hospital.

The leadership of the merged hospitals has been promising for months now they would soon reveal the location. The 10-month review process to choose the site was narrowed down to two finalist spots in May.

The other locations were never made public, in part to protect the integrity of the decision making process, and to prevent a swarm of real estate deals around a site that might not be chosen.

Former Mayor of Kitchener, Carl Zehr, is chair of the selection panel.

Phase one of the process determined how many of five total submissions met minimum criteria; phase two saw panelists evaluate three sites in more depth.