Chinook Regional Hospital Addition
The Chinook Regional Hospital redevelopment will provide improved access to outpatient services, specialized care, and emergency services. This is the first renovation for the Emergency Department since Chinook Regional Hospital was built 25 years ago. The expansion is necessary mainly because of the population growth in Lethbridge and the surrounding area.
The Government of Alberta, through Alberta Infrastructure, is providing support for the redevelopment of the Chinook Regional Hospital. Tetra Tech provided material testing construction services for the 22,500-square-meter redevelopment project, which consists of adding a new wing to the existing building and renovating part of the existing health center. The new 19,000-square-meter, multistory addition to the hospital will include the emergency department, ambulatory/outpatient care, cardio-respiratory, day surgery, pre-operative assessment, and maternal newborn services. About 3,500 square meters of renovations to portions of the existing health center will also be done.
The new wing is situated on a previous at-surface parking lot, directly south of the new parkade, west of the current ambulance bay and turn-about, and north of the existing main and auxiliary hospital buildings. The new five-story building includes a mechanical penthouse that has a footprint of about 3,125 square meters. Most of the structural components consist of reinforced concrete, including slabs, columns, elevator and stair core walls, foundation walls, pile caps, and grade beams.
Tetra Tech conducted pile installation monitoring for all 104 concrete piles, soil bearing inspection and certification for shallow foundations, and construction materials testing for the entire structure (including concrete, compaction of backfill materials, and asphalt).
In addition to the materials testing during construction, Tetra Tech provided geotechnical design support services.