27 September 2006
Glen Yard Project on Track
Remi Pelletier of the Quebec government's Corporation
d'hebergement closes the gates to the Glen Yard, site of the future Montreal University Health Centre yesterday. His group has just
completed the decontamination of the old railway yard, before construction of the hospital begins.
Montreal Quebec - Arthur Porter stood at the edge of the
Glen Yard yesterday, surveying the vast terrain of neatly groomed dirt that will eventually become the new McGill University Health
Centre superhospital.
After 17 months of decontamination work, the first major step in the construction of the hospital has been completed. The soil in the
former rail yard in the Notre Dame de Grace borough is now safe.
"This is the cleanest site in the city to build a hospital right now," said Porter, director of the MUHC.
About 700,000 tonnes of soil containing hydrocarbons and petroleum were hauled away from the site since the decontamination process
started in April 2005.
"We found all kinds of construction debris in there, some lead batteries, and also some bricks from when the site used to be a
brickyard and petroleum from the days it was a rail yard," said Michel Lesage, president of the Corporation d'hebergement du
Quebec, the government corporation that manages health-care real estate.
Soil containing lead traces was sent to a special landfill in Ontario; the rest of the contaminated soil was brought to disposal sites
in the Montreal area.
The final cost of the decontamination was $38 million, which is about $6 million under the amount initially evaluated in the budget,
Lesage said.
The next step is the hiring of professionals such as project managers, architects, and engineers to oversee the project.
The selection committee has been meeting with candidates all summer and will announce their decision in mid-October, Porter
said.
Those hired will then review the preliminary plans and make changes.
Construction on the first phase of the MUHC site, the new Montreal Children's Hospital, is expected to begin in the spring.
"So far, we're completely on track," Porter said.
"One of our concerns has always been the respecting of the budget. At this stage, we are absolutely on budget," he added,
noting the budget for the new hospital is around $1.1 billion.
Both of Montreal's future superhospitals - the MUHC and the Centre Hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal - have been surrounded by
controversy since proposals had first been discussed in the early 1990s.
Sites for the hospitals have been hotly debated. Projected costs have soared. A government proposal in April to build the hospitals
using a public-private partnership was met with skepticism by hospital officials.
Porter said a team including accountants were hired this summer to produce a report on the effectiveness of the
public-private-partnership model, expected to be completed early next month.
Residents close to the Glen Yard, at the corner of Decarie Blvd. and St. Jacques St.W., have also expressed concerns about construction
noise and extra traffic.
All the roads surrounding the Glen Yard site will have to undergo construction to accommodate this increased traffic in the
neighbourhood, said Montreal executive committee member Marcel Tremblay.
Construction on Addington St. in N.D.G. has already started, and there is also work planned to enlarge Decarie, and reconfigure St.
Jacques and Girouard Ave
Exact plans for the new road configurations have yet to be finalized, Tremblay said, mainly because the city has realized they will
almost definitely exceed their budget for this roadwork.
"We started off saying the work would cost $22 million, but now the budget looks closer to $27 million and possibly more,"
Tremblay said.
Despite the headaches, Porter said it will all be worth it in the end.
"This is a hospital that will give all Montrealers great pride," he said.
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