Shovels went into the ground on the new Patient Support Centre at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto on October 22.

The launch of construction on the facility marks the beginning of the first of three stages of development, dubbed Project Horizon, that will last approximately 10 years and invest billions of dollars in construction.

Project Horizon will result in the renewal or renovation of virtually all clinical care and support areas of the hospital.

"Today we celebrated with our SickKids 'Catalyst' and 'Groundbreakers' donors – those who have put a stake in the ground with a commitment of over $1 million towards building a new SickKids," said Ted Garrard, Chief Executive Officer, SickKids Foundation. "These bold, forward-thinking individuals and organizations give our campaign momentum and inspire others to join the fight. Together, with their extraordinary support, a new SickKids will rise."

Construction of the Patient Support Centre (PSC) is being led by PCL Constructors. Once complete, the building will house SickKids Learning Institute, which supports over 1,000 world-class trainees, students and learners annually; a Simulation Centre for hands-on teaching; bright, modern workspace for professionals, management and support staff, as well as a variety of collaboration and activity spaces accessible to all staff from across the campus. The building itself will stand 22-storeys, and construction is expected to be completed in 2022.

According to architects B+H, the PSC will be the first project to comply with Toronto’s ­Tier 2 Building Standards. It will feature terraced green roofs contribute to the building’s sustainability and offer physicians and hospital staff further opportunities to engage with the city.

“The design of the new Patient Support Centre provides an important architectural framework for a workplace environment designed to transform the way SickKids works,” said Patrick Fejér, project lead and senior design principal at B+H in a statement. “The PSC is being designed to create an inspiring environment that supports the needs of health-care providers, fosters collaboration and helps to accelerate innovation.”

Phase two of the project is the Peter Gilgan Family Patient Care Tower: a new acute-care hospital tower that will feature 144 new patient beds, 120 new critical care beds built as single-patient rooms, a new blood and marrow transplant unit with specialized ventilation systems, approximately 19 new operating suites, and a new, emergency department featuring 51 treatment spaces. Construction of that facility is expected to finish in 2029.

The final phase of Project Horizon will feature renovations to the atrium hospital building to support new and renovated outpatient clinics.

"We're truly thrilled to have reached this significant milestone in our campus transformation. Moments like these are not possible without the vision and support of our dedicated staff, government partners, donors and the community," says Dr. Ronald Cohn, President and CEO of SickKids at the groundbreaking. "As we build a new SickKids, we are defining a new approach to paediatric medicine using precision child health to diagnose and then treat our individual patients. Today, we celebrate a major step forward in our journey to transform care delivery for children."

The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) has offered a series of recommendations to the new federal government after Monday’s election.

As the voice of the Canadian green building industry, the CaGBC is committed to advancing high-performance green building practices. Given Canada’s building stock contributes up to 17 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the industry can help the new government reduce carbon, create jobs, spur economic growth, deliver cost savings and better quality of life for Canadians.

A low-carbon building sector in Canada will require higher standards for new buildings and a commitment to retrofit existing ones. The council says it is pleased to see that the Liberal government pledged to invest $100 million in skills training for energy audits, retrofits and net-zero construction, and to make large commercial buildings more energy efficient with a national competition to create four $100-million long-term funds. This will help attract private capital that can be used for deep retrofits of large buildings. The plan also promised incentives for home owners to undertake retrofits and purchase zero emission homes.

The CaGBC’s recommendations are as follows.

Invest in Canada’s low carbon workforce transition

As Canada transitions to a low-carbon economy, it needs to develop a robust construction workforce with the capacity to develop, construct and manage high-performing smart green homes and offices.

Use the Canada Infrastructure Bank to stimulate the retrofit economy

Over 80 percent of existing buildings will still be in operation by 2030. CaGBC research shows retrofitting these buildings can reduce energy consumption, emissions and operating costs. However, these improvements require incentives to complement private sector financing. To build the confidence of lenders, the CaGBC introduced the Investor Confidence Project to de-risk investments in retrofits.

The CaGBC recommends that the government instruct the Canada Infrastructure Bank to include building retrofits as part of their infrastructure investment strategies by issuing the four $100-million long-term funds to support deep retrofits. This will further catalyze investor confidence and stimulate the economy while significantly lowering its GHG emissions.

Show leadership and innovation with zero-carbon buildings

Research by CaGBC demonstrates that zero-carbon buildings are not only technologically feasible, but they are also financially viable. On average, zero-carbon buildings can achieve a positive financial return over a 25-year lifecycle, inclusive of carbon pricing. CaGBC encourages the federal government to continue constructing and operating new buildings as zero-carbon, by adopting CaGBC’s Zero-Carbon Building Standard for all new federal buildings, along with an updated LEED Platinum policy.

CaGBC believes that Zero Carbon Buildings will be an important contributor to reach the goal of net zero emissions by 2050 set by the Liberal Party. The price on carbon will help to make these buildings even more affordable compared to business-as-usual homes.

Develop national building benchmarking and disclosure requirements

The lack of publicly available data on building performance is often a barrier to energy efficiency improvements. Open access data as demonstrated in CaGBC’s Disclosure Challenge can inform investment decisions resulting in both energy savings and billions of dollars in economic opportunity.

CaGBC recommends that the government of Canada should develop national building disclosure and benchmarking requirement guidelines, informed by industry and best practices or provide a nationally-based program that provinces or territories can join.

“We believe that Canada can compete in the global economy while re-affirming its commitment to lowering GHG emissions,” the council said in a release. “Canada’s retrofit economy is well-positioned to provide significant new sources of carbon reduction in addition to wealth generation and job creation over the medium-term. But to get there, we need the right workforce and fiscal incentives in place for the private and public sectors to help the retrofit economy realize its full potential. As Canada transitions to a low-carbon economy, government must prioritize actions that can prepare Canadians to capitalize on this opportunity.”