Portage Hospital among Top 100 construction projects in nation; a first for Southern Health-Santé Sud

The new Portage District General Hospital construction project has made it into the Top 100 Projects list website. Southern Health-Santé Sud Implementation Lead Kyle MacNair says this shows the magnitude of this facility. 

"This is a trade magazine for construction and they record all of the public and private construction projects in the country and collate them into a list every year," says MacNair. "I'm quite confident that this is certainly the only project that's ever hit that list from Southern Health. If you look at the list, there are only three projects in Manitoba on that list and we're one of them. It certainly gives us a sense of the importance of this project, both from a local perspective, from a provincial perspective, and even a national perspective."

The cost outlined in the for the hospital is $455 million, and we sit at Number 98. The top project will cost $16 billion and is the Site C Clean Energy Project, a third dam and hydroelectric generating station on the Peace River in northeast BC.

Portage Hospital project photo taken Jan. 17

"$455 million is the estimated cost that we started with when going ahead with this project," continues MacNair. "The projects in this are ranked at cost. The smallest in the list is for $415 million. That's why we're, kind of, at the lower end and ranked 98th."

MacNair says our hospital is one of only two new ones being built in the province, with the other smaller on being in Neepawa.

"Then there are expansions going on," notes MacNair. "Boundary Trails is being expanded and Steinbach is being expanded, but those are all the smaller-dollar cost projects. The highest cost is related to replacing the hospital, and in Manitoba right now, this is definitely the largest project on the books." 

He adds they're quite excited and will continue to see it erected with a smooth construction. MacNair explains the colder air has slowed things down somewhat and activities have moved indoors.

"But now that the weather has turned, there'll be a lot more exterior work going on, so more of the structures are going to go up," says MacNair. "We're quite excited to see the structures up and give everybody an idea of how big this facility is and what an impact it's going to make in the healthcare services in Portage and surrounding areas."