Thomson Centre re-design tendered

Monday March 8, 2010

By John Thompson

Whitehorse-based Kobayashi and Zedda Architects and Dorward Engineering have won the contract to design renovations to the Yukon Hospital Corporation’s problem-plagued Thomson Centre.

The two firms have partnered with Vancouver-based Stantec Architects and Engineering to do the work. Craig Tuton, chair of the hospital corporation, called Stantec “experts in this field” in a media release.

The centre, which adjoins Whitehorse General Hospital, was built in 1993 as a continuing care facility under Tony Penikett’s NDP government. But it has been plagued with water leaks, mould infestations and other
problems.

So, for the past eight years, its rooms, built to provide continuing and palliative care to the elderly, have sat empty. The building is currently used as office space and to house physio and occupational therapists.

The Yukon government announced in December its plans to re-open 29 of the building’s 44 rooms to patients.

The centre is expected to re-open by September. Total work is projected to cost $1.5 million.