British Columbia breaks ground on C$300m Fort St. John Hospital(2)

Ground was officially broken this week on the C$300 million (€192 million; $274 million) public-private partnership (PPP) development of the Fort St. John Hospital and Residential Care project in British Columbia.

The groundbreaking signals the end of negotiations and financial close on a fixed-price contract with private partner ISL Health to design, build, finance and maintain the new facilities over a 30 year term.

ISL will assume all construction and operational risks related to the C$297.9 million project.

Approximately one third of that amount will be provided by the regional hospital district, with the remainder of the financing coming from the province and ISL Health group.

Among other partners, the ISL Health group comprises infrastructure developer Acciona and PPP investor Innisfree, who will provide the equity financing for the project.

The new facilities, expected to be completed in the spring of 2012, include a 55-bed acute care hospital and a 123-bed residential care facility to replace the ageing existing facility, which was built in 1962.

In related news, Partnerships BC, the province’s PPP implementation body, has just released a request for qualifications for anther hospital PPP project. The Surrey Memorial Hospital Redevelopment and Expansion will add an emergency department and critical care tower to the hospital’s existing facilities.

Both hospital developments are part of an overall, three-year, C$14-billion capital infrastructure program, which includes C$2.5 billion for capital spending in the health sector, supported by the Province.