‘Tremendous amount of progress’ despite challenges for County’s new hospital

Administrator | May 10, 2026 | Comments 0

By Sharon Harrison
“When I stand inside the walls of the new hospital and I look around, I think the word that comes to mind is wonder,” shared Stacey Daub, president and CEO of Quinte Health. “It’s just such a great example of human will and capacity to build something so unique, and so beautiful, and so reflective of the community that we all know and live in.”

The third community update (and the first this year) on progress of the Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital new build was provided by Quinte Health Wednesday afternoon, which saw around 80 people tune-in to the virtual event.

Led by Daub, it featured updates from Chad Cranley (director of re-development and facilities at Quinte Health), Jeff Mosher (with HDR Inc.), as well as Shannon Coull (executive director with Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Foundation (PECMHF)).

“I really believe, truly, that this hospital is being built because of our collective effort, our collective commitment, and our collective ability to say, ‘Yes, we can, we are going to build this no matter which challenges get in our way’.”

“This is the first of its kind, really complex project, and they are doing a lot of really innovative things, from solar to geo-thermal, to the mass timber, and we are learning a lot as we go along.”

Stacey Daub

She noted how some of the things they are learning are taking longer than originally anticipated.

“This winter was absolutely unprecedented and very challenging from a construction perspective, so that long winter has been quite challenging, and we had a small labour dispute, that was outside our control, last year,” Daub explained.

“There have been some things that have been surprising to us, but what hasn’t been surprising, is through both HDR architectural firm, and our construction partner, is the commitment to quality. That is at the foremost of our priorities to make sure that that quality is amazing.”

Daub explained they are now looking at an updated timeframe with building completion and handover to Quinte Health happening in late fall 2027. The project cost ($153.8 million)remains the same as our budget, stated Daub.

“So that means after you have substantial completion, when the building is complete, the next phase is to get all the equipment into the building, you have to test everything and make sure everything’s working, and it’s only when you are absolutely certain, do you then take all the patients and all the staff from the one building and move over to the other, and we are expecting that will occur in early 2028.”

Cranley’s update focused on “tremendous amount of progress” in the construction process over the last 12 months, even though there have been challenges.

He confirmed the build is at the mid-point in the construction process, with steady progress and the hospital is now “really taking shape.” There is just over 97,000-square-feet of building structure fully erected and substantially closed in, with 100 per cent of the foundations and footings in place, and about 90 percent of primary structure in place.

“The other exciting news this week, our emergency generators have arrived on site, so we have our emergency system complete with all the switch gear and primary pieces to get that installed, so that’s an important milestone.”

Cranley spoke to a complex network of installations being carefully navigated regarding network cables, conduits, gas piping, domestic water supply lines, ventilation systems, etc.

“Obviously, one of the goals of this project is to expose as much of the mass timber as possible, so many of the ceiling spaces will be left fully exposed and will be seen for people navigating the building.”

Jeff Mosher, HDR

A very technical update was provided by project lead Mosher, who focused in detail on some of the innovative elements of the build, its context as well as delving into some history, especially as it relates to the wood element. He provided an overview of the hospital’s design, including key features that support modern healthcare delivery, sustainability and the building’s net-zero-ready approach.

“The sense of place, the sense of identity was a big reason why we went with mass timber on this project,” shared Mosher. “It does have the distinction of being the first uncapsulated mass timber hospital in North America which is really great distinction to have.”

The new hospital is being built just behind the existing hospital, which will eventually be demolished and become the parking lot for the new hospital. Parking is to remain free of charge.

“It’s scaled to your community and has a full emergency department, along with recess and trauma space, and will offer ambulatory services, including endoscopy and lumps and bumps. There is an imaging department, including a planned CT scan, x-ray and mammography, a 23-bed in-patient unit.”

Vice-president and chief nursing executive with Quinte Health, Lina Rinaldi, confirmed there will be six dialysis chairs and they are hoping to add an evening shift as well, and hope to have the capacity to serve up to 36 community members in the dialysis program, operating six days a week.

A common question Daub said she receives is whether there will be enough doctors to work at the new hospital.

“We are seeing more physicians coming to our community and really being excited. And we have amazing partnerships with Loyalist and others to make sure our nursing and diagnostic imaging, and all the other important services that are going to be there, are going to be well-staffed.”

Mosher spoke in detail about the wood element and benefits of carbon sequestering.

“All the CO₂ that is involved into the materials that go into the building, from when it’s harvested, to process, to manufactured, to shipped, to installed, and then eventually disposed of, and by building this out of a carbon sequestering material instead of a carbon-emitting material (like concrete or steel), we were actually able to avoid almost 10 million kilograms of CO₂ – which is roughly the equivalent of taking 10,000 cars off the road, or planting more than 300,000 new trees.”

“Of course, mass timber is the big headline here, but this building has a whole host of sustainable features: solar panels on the roof, green roofs, mass timber structure, EV ready parking, geo-thermal energy systems, advanced heat recovery, and operable windows,” explained Mosher. “The building envelope was very intentionally designed, and we’ve put a lot of thought into the landscaping and stormwater, and looked at climate resiliency. And it is a net-zero-ready hospital.”

Coull concluded the update with the latest on PECMHF’s Back the Build campaign, indicating how fundraising is in lock-step with the construction. She also acknowledged the donors, volunteers, and the community.

“The fundraising is well on its way with a lot of momentum, and that’s because of the incredible support we have from our community that continue to be engaged, evidenced by the last two extremely successful community events that we’ve had over the past two weekends, totally sold-out events.”

The good news: As of today, $28 million has been raised toward PECMHF’s $30 million goal, with just under $2 million left to go.

“We are almost there,” added Coull. “Thank you all for everything, we are grateful, and we couldn’t be where we are today looking at a hospital that is going to be the first-of-its-kind in North America, because of all of you.”