August 23, 2010

Barrie Construction Association lobbies for local subtrades on Penetanguishene health centre

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

The Barrie Construction Association (BCA) hopes local subtrades will be awarded a piece of the pie on construction of a new mental health centre in the town of Penetanguishene.

“We certainly will be contacting the successful bidder to promote the value of hiring local trades,” said BCA administrative director Alison Smith, whose organization has already had a “lengthy discussion” with one of the proponents.

Smith said BCA, which represents more than 400 firms, also intends to pitch the services of the association itself, making its plansroom available for posting and distribution of drawings.

The new forensic mental health facility will be built on the existing Mental Health Centre Penetanguishene (MHCP) site. It will replace the 160-bed Oak Ridge facility and the 20-bed Brebeuf facility.

MHCP and Infrastructure Ontario recently announced the closing of the request for proposals (RFP) stage for building teams to submit bids to design, build, finance and maintain the facility.

The shortlisted teams were: Carillion Health Solutions, which includes Vanbots, a division of Carillion Construction Inc.; Integrated Team Solutions, which includes EllisDon Corp; and Plenary Health, which includes PCL Constructors Canada Inc. All three consortia submitted bids.

In their proposals, the teams demonstrated “a strong interest” in partnering with local contractors and other businesses, MHCP and Infrastructure Ontario said.

Over the next several months, the two organizations will evaluate the bidders’ proposals based on criteria set out in the RFP. The successful bidder is expected to be announced in late 2010.Construction is expected to begin in early 2011.

“This (project) is very good news for members of the Barrie Construction Association,” Smith said.

Early last year, Stantec Architecture Ltd. was chosen to further develop the site master plan and prepare key documents to form the guidelines and performance requirements that the successful building team must work with when preparing the overall design.

LEED Silver is being targeted.

Site preparation work got under way this spring. Al Langman Construction (1998) Inc. of Orillia was awarded the contract for this work, which includes replacement of the existing transportation garage and trades building with a new environmental services building, site remediation and construction of access roads and parking.

Mental Health Centre Penetanguishene is a 312-bed psychiatric hospital located on Georgian Bay in the town of Penetanguishene, approximately 150 kilometres northwest of Toronto.

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