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Work has begun on the site of the new hospital planned for south Edmonton — the first new adult hospital in the city in more than 30 years.
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Crews started work on the property this week. The first stage, which is expected to last about 18 months, includes tree clearing, soil removal and installation of temporary power services, Infrastructure Minister Prasad Panda said Friday.
“Then we’ll start with road development, laying of underground utility lines, site fencing and also site security is required … together with developing a stormwater management facility,” he said.
The planning and design of the hospital itself was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic but that work has started up again and will be completed in time for the overall project to finish on schedule in 2030 or earlier, the minister said.
“It’s an acute care facility, which is expected to have 350 to 500 beds. So it will be state-of-the-art, (the) most modern facility that Edmontonians can access (with) clinical services as well as health programs,” he said.
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The site of the new hospital at 127 Street NW and Ellerslie Road SW was known as the Ellerslie Research Station and was used for decades by the University of Alberta to conduct crop research.
Plans to put a new hospital on the property have been talked about for years. The former NDP government proposed the idea in 2017. At the time it said the hospital would be completed by 2026,
So far $393 million has been earmarked for the first three years of the project as a part of the province’s capital plan. Panda said there is not a firm budget yet for the completed hospital. The Alberta government website pegs the estimated cost at $2 billion.
The last adult hospital built in Edmonton was the Grey Nuns Community Hospital which opened in 1988.
