New Stanton hospital expected to be 'enclosed and weather tight' by late fall

Basic work on the exterior of thenew Stanton Territorial Hospital building in Yellowknife should be done by late fall, according to the contractor.

Terry Bateman of Boreal Health Partnership, which is overseeing the construction for the government of the Northwest Territories, says he hopes to have the building "enclosed and weather tight by the end of October or early November."

Work at the site began almost a year ago.The project has so far used about 1,500 tonnes of structural steel, and 53,000 cubic metres of rock was removed in the blasting for the foundation, equivalent to about 7,000 Ford F-150s.

The GNWT says the new hospital is still on budget and on time.

Glen Abernethy, minister of Health and Social Services, spoke to reporters at a tour of the construction site Tuesday where a model of the finished hospital was also unveiled.

"We're still planning to have construction of the facility done by December 2018," he said.

"Once the structure's done we'd have a slow, phased-in move-in based on the medical equipment and everything coming over, but we're still planning for 2019."

Abernethy outlined features that he says will provide better quality of patient care, including airborne isolation rooms, more space for ambulatory care and surgery, and individual rooms for patients in the 100-bed hospital.

The hospital is being built by Toronto-based Bird Construction and Clark Builders in a joint venture partnership.