Some activity is being noticed at the former Agassiz Youth Centre (AYC) property, where the new Portage District General Hospital will be constructed. We caught up with Southern Health-Santé Sud Implementation Lead Kyle MacNair to bring us up to speed with the latest word on the project. 

"The piling has started," says MacNair. "It's going to run from about February 26th and we hope to be done about May 4th. They're piling in various places. This is an early stage. So, it's kind of test piles at various points on the whole property, but that's where the facility is going. So, it's going on the very northernmost section of the AYC property closest to the hospital and the heliport."

MacNair explains this plan extends to 2025, and various things can come up that can cause delays. In general, the piling will go until May. The concrete will then be poured from, hopefully, April to about July. This then brings us to the structure being raised, which will take much time from July to February of 2024. 

"Then the internal work will run from about November of 2023 to December of 2024," says MacNair. "And interior finishes will follow right up until around July of 2025. So, the framework structure will be going up as early as this summer."

He says there will be two entrances off Crescent Road.

"There'll be a main entrance for patient flow that will be off of Crescent Road, and then there'll be a second entrance that will be further north. That will be the EMS entrance to the facility closer to the heliport. There will be also staffing entrances at the back of the facility. The staff will be able to access the back parking lot off of Queen Ave., or 9th St. -- that intersection that the staff currently are using. Currently, the public parking and the staff parking are off Queen Ave. Now, the public entrance will be more off of Crescent Rd."

During the construction, you will see that the workers will be accessing the entry points that will be used later for entrances, giving you an idea of where those entrances will be. 

MacNair says you won't want to miss the opportunity they're opening to the public next month to see some of the drawings, meet the architecture team that's doing it, ask questions about the facility and the layout, and get a lot more information about how this project is going to go forward.

"The team is just getting ready to put the information more out in public," adds MacNair. "We were going to want as many people as possible to attend the event and come out and learn about the project, and get as excited as we are about it."

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