Gander and Grand Falls-Windsor Long-Term Care Facilities

Shaping Long-Term Care in Newfoundland and Labrador

The construction of the Gander and Grand Falls-Windsor Care Homes marks the first P3 project in Atlantic Canada. Mandated to NL Healthcare Partners by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the consortium is comprised of Fengate Asset Management (developer); Pomerleau (design-build contractor); Architecture49, G architects, Gibbons Snow Architects (design); and WSP Canada, Malcolm Pinto Engineering and Jewer Bailey Consultants (engineering). The two LTCs were delivered under a Design-Build-Finance-Maintain (DBFM) contract model with Pomerleau acting as Design-Builder.

The new, virtually identical 60-bed long-term care (LTC) facilities were constructed simultaneously, approximately 100km apart, one in Gander, NL, and the other in Grand Falls-Windsor, NL. Both are three-storey facilities that can accommodate future expansions and offer similar services and features including back-up generator and stormwater retention system. The Gander LTC facility compliments the campus feel of its surroundings and features a packaged sanitation lift station. The Grand Falls-Windsor facility is designed and constructed to respect and maximize the local surroundings in particular its location on a steep site. The front of the building facing the hill creates a sheltered microclimate for the wander garden.

More specifically, as the Design-Builder, we were responsible for:

Managing all design subconsultants and construction subcontractors throughout all phases of the project.

Implementing a Quality Management Plan (QMP), LEAN construction scheduling techniques, Building Information Modeling (BIM), daily site monitoring and a Just-in-Time delivery system.

Holding regular, collaborative meetings to keep the client and stakeholders, including fire commissioners, Service NL, and Transportation and Infrastructure NL, informed on decisions, progress, and milestones. Meetings were held virtually to facilitate coordination between the project teams at both sites and with Authorities having jurisdiction (AHJ), while respecting COVID-19 response measures.

LEED-Certified Times Two

Both buildings were awarded LEED certification: the Gander facility received LEED Silver Certification and the Grand Falls-Windsor obtained Gold. The sustainability strategy focused on measures that positively impact the residents’ health, such as supplying outside air with a high ventilation effectiveness, maintaining thermal comfort conditions year-round, minimizing air contaminants and providing access to daylight and views to the outdoors. Constructing energy-efficient building systems including a thermally enhanced building envelope, exhaust air heat recovery, and high-efficiency air-to-water heat pumps are all measures that are a part of Pomerleau’s scope of expertise and services.

Challenges

Increased Coordination Due to Remote Locations

With project sites more than 300km outside of the city limits of St. John’s, NL, material planning and logistics were reviewed extensively within the context of the sites’ remote location to optimize schedule and budget, this was accomplished using LEAN construction scheduling techniques, BIM and daily site monitoring.

Being constrained to an island, deliveries with times of year and weather needed to be factored to allow for realistic planning and scheduling.

Both facilities required coordinated tie-ins of sanitary, water, and hydro services to existing infrastructure; for example, extensive planning was required with NL Hydro to verify the alignment of schedules to enable both buildings to run off permanent power.

Site Constraints

The Grand Falls-Windsor facility, located on an old mill site, was known to contain contaminants and was labelled a brownfield site. This resulted in having to obtain temporary building site allowances.

Due to topography challenges, a sanitary lift station was required at the Gander LTC facility, with new sanitary force mains routed to limit disturbances to neighbours.