By Healthcare Facilities Today

When plans for the new $512-million critical care tower at Surrey Memorial Hospital were being made Canadian construction firm EllisDon was charged with designing a cutting-edge health care facility that looks more like a high-end hotel or office tower — something that belongs downtown, according to an article in the Vancouver Sun.

“The city wanted us to create a real presence — something that would complement the revitalization of downtown Surrey,” EllisDon vice-president and regional manager David McFarlane said in the article. “They didn’t want a building with a bunch of strip windows and ugly siding.

“In my mind, it’s a cornerstone to the downtown city core. It’s a big glass cube with patterned glass and lots of local, natural materials. It’s not a typical health care facility.”

Doctors, nurses, lab technicians, administrators and patient focus groups were consulted before the EllisDon design team could complete its final plans for a unique eight-story tower that would satisfy as many Surrey Memorial Hospital stakeholders as possible. That process took about a year.

The British Columbia Wood First Act requires wood to be considered as a primary building material in all new provincially-funded buildings and wood is a major feature throughout the new tower in areas such as the main lobby, the entrances and the building canopies.

Read the article.