A new integrated health services centre nearing completion at CFB Gagetown is set to be the perfect cure for services that are right now spread out across the New Brunswick base, in less‑than‑ideal settings.
“They’re very excited—it’s quite modern compared to what they have,” said Scott Nason, DCC Coordinator, Construction Services at Gagetown about the users of the new 2,000‑m2 building that is about 90 percent complete.
The building is one of a number of projects across the country commissioned to centralize medical services on Canadian Forces bases. It will see doctors, dentists, physiotherapists, a pharmacy and more brought together in the new facility, which will be connected to a renovated facility when fully complete.
The combination of new build and renovation has added some additional planning to the work—coordinating for the swing space and the series of moves required.
But it’s not the first planning complication to come down the pipe for the project team. Construction on the first phase started in 2019, just before COVID‑19 struck, leading to challenges with supply chain management. They made it through the period relatively unscathed due to the forward preparation for the contractor.
“I was pleasantly surprised that the contractor was so eager to get everything on site,” said Nason, about the contractor. It was an innovative tendering process that helped keep the project on track too.
Now nearly complete, the building is almost ready to share the natural light, open spaces and LEED Silver features like rainwater catchment, electrical vehicle chargers and lighting control— just the remedy needed for CFB Gagetown.