New Ottawa Civic hospital opening likely delayed by years, says project consultant
Hospital says it's finalizing design and construction timeline with partners
Jayden Dill · CBC News
Posted: Apr 24, 2026 4:51 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago
The opening of the new Civic campus of The Ottawa Hospital has likely been delayed until well into the 2030s, an advisor on the project told city councillors on Thursday.
Graham Bird, the president of the GBA Group consulting firm advising the hospital on the project, told the city's public works and infrastructure committee Thursday that completion of the new hospital campus is still years away.
"I'm going to get shot for saying this, but I think the hospital itself, it's a huge project," he said. "But I'm imagining 2033-34," he said about its completion.
Bird was at city hall, where the committee was discussing a design that would see a pedestrian tunnel built under Carling Avenue between the Dow's Lake O-Train station on the north side of the street and the future hospital on the south.
Bird said if the city wants to open the hospital and pedestrian tunnel at the same time, they have "eight, nine years to do this and we should focus and get it done."
Back in 2021, The Ottawa Hospital envisioned construction on the new campus beginning in 2024, east of the existing century-old Civic hospital campus, with a grand opening in 2028.
Years later, while work on the parking garage is underway, construction on the new hospital itself has not yet begun and no construction contract has been signed.
Infrastructure Ontario first posted a request for proposals in 2022 and received a single bid from a consortium made up of of EllisDon and PCL Constructors. Since February 2024, however, Infrastructure Ontario, The Ottawa Hospital and those builders have been hammering out details.
Infrastructure Ontario directed a CBC News inquiry to the Minister of Health, whose office said the Ford government has provided a $30-million planning grant to support the development of the new Ottawa Hospital.
"Infrastructure Ontario continues to be actively working together with its partners for the development phase of the Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus redevelopment project," wrote press secretary Ema Popovic.
The Ottawa Hospital told CBC News in an email that it's still working to finalize the design, cost and construction schedule.
When asked for an updated timeline for the new campus, a spokesperson wrote, "We will be able to confirm these details once this phase of the project is complete."
The city had originally looked at a pedestrian bridge but received strong feedback from the public that people preferred a tunnel.
Staff said they found a viable design for that tunnel and said it would provide a "direct, seamless, accessible and weather-protected connection" between the O-Train station and the hospital.
The committee approved the design for the underpass, as well as potential interim solutions to help pedestrians cross Carling Avenue at street level.
The tunnel design would see the existing platform at Dow's Lake O-Train station extended under the Carling bridge.
Staff estimate that underpass option would cost $80 million, with no timeline for completion.
However, the Carling Avenue bridge that passes over the rail line is nearing the end of its life, they noted. It was built in 1965 and staff estimate it has about 15 to 20 years left.
Bird went to committee to argue for a better design for the connection to the hospital. He pointed out thousands of people will be living near the station, while thousands more hospital employees and patients will use it.
"We're all relying on an LRT station that's about the size of someone's boat dock and it's down in a hole," he told committee as he described the current O-Train Station.
Bird said it's important for the train's connection to the hospital to be successful.
"If it isn't, I think we've got a real mess on our hands," he said. "I'll be just that frank. I'm very, very concerned about it."
Ritchard Brisbin, whose architectural firm worked on many of the Stage 1 LRT stations, joined Bird on Thursday.
He called Dow's Lake "a one-sided station with very limited capacity" and said a "Pimisi-like solution" is needed, referring to the station where the platform is in the middle of the tracks.
Bird said the pedestrian journey should be similar to the underwater tunnel at the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport that utilizes a multi-elevator system and escalators to transport residents between the tunnel and ground level.
Full council will vote on the proposed, functional underpass design when it meets on May 13.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-new-civic-hospital-timeline-construction-9.7175808
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