The building

The beginnings

The Aline-Chrétien Health Hub project has been funded in large part by the Ontario provincial government.

To ensure a fair and equitable procurement process, Montfort worked with Infrastructure Ontario, a Crown agency of the Province of Ontario that supports the Ontario government’s initiatives to modernize and maximize the value of public infrastructure and real estate.

For more information on the procurement process to select the company to build and finance the project, visit the website of Infrastructure Ontario.

The design

The design of the Hub was developed by HDR Architecture Associates Inc., which has extensive experience in healthcare space planning.

HDR has extensive experience in healthcare space planning. When the firm designs a healthcare building, it carefully analyzes three elements: patient care, context and community. In this case, the architects were inspired by the landscape of Petrie Island, on the Ottawa river across from Orléans, and the natural canals that cross the island, to design a fluid environment where people will move between the various sectors of the Hub.

For more information on the design of the Aline-Chrétien Health Hub, visit the HDR website.

The construction

At the end of the tendering process overseen by Infrastructure Ontario, EllisDon Infrastructure Healthcare was awarded a fixed price contract to build and finance the project. The contract is valued at $59,7 million. The company was selected following extensive evaluations and an open, fair and competitive request for proposals process that began in October 2018.

In August 2019, EllisDon mobilized on the site and work began. At the height of construction, around 200 people are expected to work on the construction site.

For more information on the construction of the Aline-Chrétien Health Hub, visit the EllisDon website.

The living wall

The Forget For a Moment Foundation will donate a living wall in the new Aline-Chrétien Health Hub. The 30-square-metre vertical garden, shaped like a Monarch butterfly wing, will be installed in the waiting room of the Services for Seniors program. In addition to purifying the air and providing oxygen, the presence of a green wall will have a positive impact on the psychological state of visitors and staff. Indeed, numerous scientific studies have highlighted the highly beneficial effect of plants on physical and mental health. 

For more information on the living wall, visit the Forget For a Moment Foundation website.

The landscape

After the construction of the Hub is done, a section of the site will be conveyed to the City of Ottawa to become a city park.

Working with the landscape architect, we want to ensure that the Hub and the greenery surrounding the building will be “butterfly friendly” by incorporating native flowers and other plants into the overall design philosophy. We want to honour the butterfly that is at the heart of the Hub’s logo. This is also one small way of illustrating our focus on a healthy environment, both inside and outside the building.