The procurement model for the Bridgepoint Active Healthcare Bridgepoint Hospital project is design, build, finance, maintain (DBFM), a common strategy used in the healthcare industry outside of the U.S. Under this model, the consortium developer, Plenary Health Bridgepoint, finances construction and maintains the project over a 30-year period. The Ministry of Health & Long Term Care (MOHLTC) pays back Plenary Health over the 30-year maintenance period, after which ownership reverts to the MOHLTC.

MOHLTC must approve the project for redevelopment under the public-private partnership alternative finance process before an organization called Infrastructure Ontario gets involved. Infrastructure Ontario ultimately takes responsibility for delivering the approved project on behalf of the MOHLTC.

Infrastructure Ontario is a crown corporation wholly owned by the Province of Ontario and established by the Ontario Infrastructure and Lands Corporation Act of 2011. 

Plenary Health Bridgepoint, the consortium developer, includes Plenary Group, Innisfree, HDR Architects/Diamond Schmitt Architects Inc., PCL Constructors Canada Inc., Johnson Controls Inc., and RBC Capital Markets.

“Since our contract was with the contractor, a big challenge for us early on was gaining the trust of the owner so they’d actually listen to us,” says Brian McClean, associate managing principal, HDR Architecture (Toronto). “Over time, they realized we were acting in their interest.” But he predicts there won’t be many more exemplar healthcare projects in Canada. “Owners have become aware that it’s better to allow your delivery team to bring innovation.”

 

Sara O. Marberry, EDAC, is a contributing editor for Healthcare Design. She is a writer, blogger, speaker, and strategic marketing and business consultant in Evanston, Ill., and the former executive vice president of The Center for Health Design. She can be reached at [email protected].

To read more about Bridgepoint Active Healthcare's new hospital project,  please see "What’s Old Is New Again At Bridgepoint Active Health."

For a detailed source list, including costs, project team, and other vendors on this project, visit: "Bridgepoint Active Health: Project Breakdown."