As work continues to redevelop the Golden Manor, a firm has been chosen to design the building.
At its Sept. 22 meeting, Timmins council approved having Montgomery Sisam Architects do the comprehensive building design for the new facility. It's a fixed-fee contract for $2.2 million, plus HST.
In June, the Golden Manor applied to the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care for hybrid redevelopment project that would see the 176 existing long-term care (LTC) beds redeveloped, and create 16 new LTC beds. The new, 192-bed building would be located on the empty land in the northwest corner of the current location on Melrose Boulevard.
Administrator Carol Halt said the Ministry has received the application and sees no issues with it.
“In April we started our process around engaging or seeking to engage architectural design services and we proceeded with the two-phase approach,” she said.
An RFP call-out attracted 10 proposals. Halt said the three were shortlisted and asked to submit full proposals.
The city's evaluation team unanimously ranked Montgomery Sisam with the highest technical score. They were also the lowest bidder.
“This is great news that we’re able to move ahead with a modern, new building that’s going to meet all of our healthcare needs in that particular area,” said Coun. Andrew Marks.
While there are a few things Coun. Joe Campbell wants to make sure the facility's management board can have a say on in the design, he's in favour of the contract.
He noted the company has local experience working on Extendicare in Mountjoy.
"Also, they’re pretty receptive of where we want to go with this thing,” he said.
In 2017, a feasibility study for the redevelopment of the Golden Manor was done. In 2019, an analysis of the redevelopment options and the committee of management supported the option to rebuild.
In October 2019, the province announced the creation of 15,000 new LTC beds and redeveloping 15,000 older LTC beds by 2024.
For the redevelopment project, the staff report notes the city will borrow money.
"Once the project is complete and meets all applicable conditions, the MOLTC will provide the City of Timmins with a Construction Funding Subsidy (CFS) which is a per bed per day (per diem) funding paid over 25 years to assist with paying down debt," it reads.
"The city will be eligible for a one-time $250,000 planning grant once a development agreement has been signed with the Ministry of Long-Term Care. The provincial government has also announced a development grant of between 10 per cent and 17 per cent of eligible costs, but few details are available on how this will be calculated."
