FAQ
Redevelopment Project
Many of our facilities were built more than a century ago and no longer meet the needs of a modern hospital. The New MUHC is the redevelopment project that will create leading-edge facilities where compassionate care, excellent teaching and groundbreaking medical research are fully integrated across each of our missions and departments.
Across the New MUHC facilities on the Glen, Mountain and Lachine campuses, all patients will benefit from individual rooms designed to help the healing process and enhance the patient and family experience.
The New MUHC will literally change health care for generations to come—by changing how we care for patients and evolving to meet future needs.
MUHC activities are currently spread across more than five different sites, and its facilities can no longer keep up with modern medicine and science. By consolidating our activities on the Glen, Mountain and Lachine campuses and by putting as many related services as possible at each campus, the MUHC can improve the delivery of patient care. This vision will also develop synergy between clinicians and researchers.
The Glen Campus is located in both the CDN–NDG borough and the City of Westmount. Its southern border is also adjacent to the Sud-Ouest borough. This site will be the new home of the Montreal Children’s Hospital, the Montreal Chest Insitute and the Royal Victoria Hospital, as well as our Research Institute and our new Comprehensive Cancer Centre.
The Glen Campus will be built by a consortium of architects, engineers and other private enterprises.
The New MUHC will transform the Montreal General Hospital into the Mountain Campus.
As downtown Montreal’s only level-one trauma centre, the Mountain Campus will be a critical resource in the heart of our city. With a state-of-the-art emergency room, some of the finest operating suites in the country and a full range of support specialities, the redeveloped Mountain Campus will work in harmony with its counterparts at the Glen and Lachine campuses.
The New MUHC will transform the Lachine Hospital and the Camille Lefebvre Pavilion into the Lachine Campus.
Located in the city’s west end, the Lachine Campus is the newest member of the MUHC family. It will feature single-patient rooms and renovated facilities while maintaing excellence in its three specialties of geriatrics, bariatric surgery and ophthalmology.
For years, the MUHC has maintained close ties with the Montreal community. In November 2004, we confirmed our commitment to the neighbourhoods around the Glen Campus by signing the Inter-Neighbourhood Coalition agreement. This agreement not only ensures open dialogue with the community but also promotes potential employability, environmental protection, economic development and accessibility. Members of this coalition are the CLSCs of the CDN–NDG and Sud-Ouest Boroughs, the NDG Community Council, the Westmount Contactivity Centre, the Westmount Municipal Association, the Regroupement économique et social du Sud-Ouest (RESO) and Solidarité St-Henri.
The MUHC is also supporting a research group subsidized by the Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) that is headed by McGill University, which is looking at how the project can contribute to community building.
For the Mountain Campus, the MUHC has also opened lines of communication with Héritage Montréal and Les Amis de la montagne. It also has a Liaison Committee that meets regularly. As part of the regulatory process, the MUHC has also participated in public consultations on the project.
Concept and Design
The three campuses are easily accessed by bus, subway, commuter train, car or bike or on foot.
The MUHC encourages its employees to use alternative modes of transportation to come to work. Staff can already use bicycle racks and other facilities. This policy will continue and be enhanced.
Our architects and designers were asked to create an environment that promotes healing for our patients and their families while creating an efficient and inspiring work environment for our employees.
How will the new design improve patient care?
The New MUHC will transform health care for generations to come by:
- Making patients and families the focus of our activities
- Concentrating our expertise at three exceptional campuses
- Caring for hospitalized patients in private rooms
- Allowing friends and family members to become involved in the care process
- Promoting interdisciplinary work
- Creating healing environments and that are respectful of the environment
- Promoting close ties between research and patient care
- Integrating teaching activities into the treatment process itself
The project will benefit our health care professionals and employees thanks to:
- Patient rooms equipped with work spaces
- The latest in medical care and technology
- A design that encourages and facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration
- Services such as day cares, cafes, and other commercial space
- Gardens and terraces that reduce stress
Yes. Each patient room will have a family corner where family members and friends can sit down, eat, and even spend the night, which will increase patients’ feelings of comfort and safety.
All green spaces at the new facilities will encourage relaxation and improve the healing process. As the campuses have been designed in accordance with the MUHC’s environmental policy, each site will have gardens, green spaces and an abundance of natural light.
Services
The new Montreal Children's Hospital will be built on the Glen Campus. Pediatric care at the MUHC will be delivered in a pavilion that is adjacent to the Women’s Health Mission sector so that the neonatal intensive care unit and birthing centre are as close together as possible.
Adult hospital care will be provided on all three campuses.
Adult services at the Glen Campus will include oncology (medical, surgical and radiation oncology and hematology), palliative care, women's health, a cardiovascular program, transplantation, respiratory medicine, general medicine and surgery, an emergency department, urology, thoracic surgery, plastic surgery and otorhinolaryngology, as well as related services such as pediatric trauma, intensive care, and cardiac care, medical imaging, and more.
Services at the Mountain Campus will include an adult tertiary trauma centre, orthopedics, an emergency department, mental health services, general medicine and surgery, oral and maxillo-facial surgery, plastic surgery, ophthalmology and geriatric medicine, as well as related services such as intensive care, cardiac care, imaging, and more.
The Lachine Campus will continue its mission to provide the community with first- and second-line services, geriatric medicine services, and specialized care in ophthalmology and bariatric surgery.
Most outpatient clinics will be located at the Glen Campus.
Each room will have three interconnected zones for patients, families and health professionals. An abundance of natural light, entertainment and positive distractions and areas for family members will help patients feel safer and more in control. Read more on the new patient rooms
Construction
Construction work is already underway in units across the Montreal General Hospital.
Different phases of the project will finish on different dates, but the construction work will be carried out as efficiently and quickly as possible on the three campuses.
All efforts will be made to minimize disruptions for patients and their families, as has been the case in the past during renovation work at our existing hospitals.
Construction work is already underway in units across the Lachine Hospital.
As was case for the environmental remediation of the Glen Campus, we will do everything we can to minimize disruptions in the neighbourhood by creating bypass routes and by communicating regularly with the community.
Project Parameters
A PPP is a long-term contract under which a public body allows a private-sector company to participate in designing, constructing and operating a public project. The MUHC’s PPP will involve the design, financing, construction and maintenance of the Glen Campus facilities.
In April 2007, the Government of Quebec announced that it had chosen the PPP model for the Glen Campus development.
A PPP brings the strengths of the public sector and private sector together. The public sector provides accountability, ensuring high quality standards are in every contract and are upheld throughout the project. In our case, our role is to ensure that patients have the best possible health care environment. For its part, the private partner manages the infrastructure while ensuring that deadlines, budgets and specified performance standards are met.
Because it is an entirely new construction, the Glen Campus is ideally suited for a PPP, while the Mountain and Lachine campuses are better off as conventional construction projects.
The thorough and in-depth analysis required fora PPP often makes it difficult to get the project started quickly. Nevertheless, this long proceses is time well spent. Unlike a conventional public service project, which often grants a series of contracts, the PPP method grants one contract for the entire development. The Glen Campus will therefore take less time overall to complete using a PPP.
What criteria will be used to choose the private consortium?
The most important criterion will be how well the consortium’s detailed proposal meets the functional needs of the MUHC.
The most important criterion will be how well the consortium’s detailed proposal meets the functional needs of the MUHC.
The budget for the Redevelopment Project is $2.2 billion.
It is too early to say, but the goal is to create facilities that are flexible enough to evolve with medical science.
Existing Buildings
The Royal Victoria Hospital, the Montreal Chest Institute and the Montreal Children's Hospital are part of the city’s heritage and are strategically located in the downtown core. The MUHC is committed to finding new uses for these facilities to enhance Montreal’s vitality and quality of life while ensuring that they integrate into their natural and urban environments.
In terms of the formal process for reuse of the facilities, the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux has the right of first refusal to acquire these buildings for other purposes within the health sector. Other agencies of the Quebec government are next in line, followed by the federal government, Montreal’s city council, and public institutions such as universities. If these official bodies do not acquire the buildings, the facilities will then be offered to the private sector.
Environment
In addition to reducing water consumption and integrating geothermal power into its facilities—a first for a Quebec hospital—the MUHC will focus on improving energy efficiency and indoor air quality as well as ensuring that its sites are environmentally friendly and that they effectively use materials and resources.
In terms of accessibility, there will be a shift towards active and public transportation and easy access for pedestrians. Bicycle paths will be created at or close to the sites (which will also be equipped with bicycle parking) while car pooling programs will also be promoted. Visitors and staff will be able to commute directly by metro or train via a pedestrian tunnel at the Vendôme intermodal station (the orange Metro line, 11 bus routes, and three commuter train lines).
Silver-level LEED certification is being sought for the Glen Campus and the Mountain Campus. This means that areas such as water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality will meet recognized sustainable development, operations and maintenance standards. The MUHC is also seeking BOMA BESt certification from BOMA Quebec, which recognizes buildings that have been constructed according to environmental best practices.
The Best Care for Life Campaign
As part of our partnership with the Government of Quebec the MUHC has agreed to raise $300 million towards the $2.2 billion project to create three new campuses on the Glen, Mountain and Lachine sites.
The Best of Care for Life Campaign (which includes The Best Care for Children Campaign) is a joint campaign of all of our foundations and has already raised more than $219 million from major donors, the business community and people like you. We need all Montrealers to join the campaign to help us create these new campuses now.
Through The Best Care for Children Campaign, the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation supports the new Children’s on the Glen Campus and provides funds for new medical equipment, and leading-edge pediatric research. The campaign has already raised over $71 million towards its goal of $100 million.
When you or someone you love needs hospital care, you want the very best. Many of our current facilities were built more than a century ago and are not suited to modern medical care. The New MUHC will create modern campuses, where patients and their families will receive the very best care thanks to the best patient rooms, the best equipment and the best working environment for our health professionals. We need all Montrealers to take this opportunity to change health care in our city and make it the very best.
A team of community leaders, under the chairmanship of John Rae, is overseeing The Best Care for Life Campaign with the active involvement of our various foundations. The Community Campaign is led by Drs. Sylvia and Richard Cruess, Helgi and Ian Soutar, and France and Raymond Royer.
Jean Béliveau and Mutsumi Takahashi are the co-chairs of the public phase of the campaign. For more information on our entire team, click here.
Marc Courtois is chairman of The Best Care for Children Campaign. The corporate campaign is led by Sean Finn and Diane Giard.