Ottawa Hospital's new Civic campus nears $500 million fundraising goal after record $50 million gift

A $50 million gift from the Peter Gilgan Foundation, announced on November 3 at the Ottawa Hospital General Campus, is the largest private donation in Ottawa's history, CTV News Ottawa reported. It brought the Campaign for Tomorrow to $465 million of its $500 million target for the new Civic campus.

Premier Doug Ford and Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones travelled to Ottawa for the announcement. Ottawa Hospital President Tim Kluke and President and CEO Cameron Love accepted the gift.

What the Campaign for Tomorrow needs

The Campaign for Tomorrow is the Ottawa Hospital's community fundraising effort. Its target is $500 million. With the Peter Gilgan Foundation's gift, $465 million has been raised, leaving $35 million to go, CTV News Ottawa reported.

The campaign runs alongside the province's own contribution. The Ottawa Citizen reported that Ontario's share has grown from the original $2.1 billion, set in 2021, to just under $10 billion. The Ministry of Health told the Ottawa Citizen the original figure was based on a years-old submission and that the scope had grown over time to include factors not in the original plan.

What the total project costs

The original 2021 estimate put the full project at $2.8 billion: a $2.1 billion provincial share and $700 million from the local side, the Ottawa Citizen reported. The final total has not been released publicly.

A single bid from a joint venture of PCL Construction and EllisDon was the only offer when bidding closed in October 2023, the Ottawa Citizen reported.

What the new hospital will be

Infrastructure Ontario describes the new Civic campus as one of the largest and most modern teaching hospitals in Canada. It will have 641 inpatient beds, including nearly 100 critical care beds. Each patient room is designed for one patient, with its own bathroom, to reduce the spread of infection and give patients privacy.

The new campus will serve patients in Eastern Ontario, Western Quebec and Nunavut, Infrastructure Ontario says. The hospital will include an advanced trauma centre and specialized emergency services, alongside integrated research and education spaces. The site near Carling Avenue and Dow's Lake was chosen in part because it can be reached by transit, by bike, and on foot, and the design includes greenspace.

The hospital is being built to meet LEED environmental standards, Infrastructure Ontario says. The delivery model is a Progressive Design-Build-Finance-Maintain contract with a 30-year maintenance term. That means the consortium that builds the hospital will also maintain it for three decades after it opens. The contract value has not been announced; Infrastructure Ontario says it will be published after financial close.

Where construction stands

Infrastructure Ontario issued a request for proposals in November 2022. Bidding closed on October 12, 2023. The development-phase agreement with PCL Construction and EllisDon was signed on February 20, 2024, beginning work at the Dow's Lake property near Carling Avenue.

Construction of the hospital building itself has not begun. The construction timeline and project costs are still being finalized. Work now underway at the site includes a parking garage that will serve the thousands of construction workers the project will need once the main building begins.

The ward where the hospital is being built

The new campus is being built in Ward 17 (Capital), represented by Councillor Shawn Menard. Menard ran on a promise to act early on traffic from the Civic Hospital in Dow's Lake, before the hospital opens. You can track that commitment at his page on the Ottawa promise tracker.

The ward includes the streets and neighbourhoods around Carling Avenue and Dow's Lake that will be closest to the construction site and to the finished hospital. Thousands of construction workers will travel to the site over the years before the building opens, and thousands of patients, staff and visitors will travel to it once it does.

What residents can do

The Campaign for Tomorrow is $35 million short of its $500 million goal. Residents who want to follow the fundraising can watch for updates from the hospital. The next public update on the hospital project's cost and timeline is expected when the province and the hospital finalize the construction schedule. The province has not said when that announcement will come.

The project raises questions about traffic, transit access and neighbourhood change that will be settled over the coming years. The site is in a part of the city that already carries heavy traffic along Carling Avenue, and the hospital will draw patients, visitors, staff and delivery vehicles from across Eastern Ontario once it opens.

Anyone living or working near Dow's Lake can follow the Ward 17 councillor's work on traffic planning at his Ottawa promise tracker page. The new Civic campus is the largest hospital construction project in the city's history, and the decisions made about traffic and access in the coming months will shape how the site works for the surrounding neighbourhood for decades.