Roof Wetting At Hospital’s New Acute Care Wing
Minister of Health and Seniors Patricia Gordon-Pamplin joined hospital staff and construction staff at a roof wetting ceremony of the new Acute Care Wing of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital this afternoon [Mar 5].
The Minister congratulated the contractors, the Bermuda Hospitals Board and others responsible for bringing the project to this stage.
“I am extremely pleased to be here today, at this roof wetting ceremony, to mark a major construction milestone for the new Acute Care Wing of our hospital,” Minister Gordon-Pamplin said.
“‘Roof wetting’, a Bermudian tradition, is a time when we recognize the completion of the shell of a building…when the roof of that new building has been completed to seal out the rain, wind and moisture…(and I think there is traditionally some Black Seal involved as well!)
“It is a moment for us to pause for a minute to recognize the achievements to-date and also to look forward with great anticipation to next year when the doors will open for the first patients.
“Government recognizes that this building is, perhaps, one of the most important on the Island. At some point, we all have to come here…either as patients or to visit our loved ones.
“The new facility will help us improve our ability to care for our sick and, increasingly, to help prevent illness. It will ensure that we have enough space for high-quality healthcare services for many years to come, and that is vital for our community.
“The new design will also improve efficiency through new clinical adjacencies and workflows. And, because the new facility will support modern services and technologies, it will optimize BHB’s ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals.
“I congratulate the contractors BCM McAlpine and Paget Health Services as well as the Bermuda Hospitals Board, particularly its chairman Jonathan Brewin and President and CEO Venetta Symonds, in bringing the project to this stage…which, I am pleased to say, is right on-schedule.
“I also wish to congratulate the Bermuda Hospitals Charitable Trust and its chairman, Mr. Philip Butterfield, for their efforts to raise the funds that are needed for the first payment on the Hospital – due in early 2014. Their hard work and the generosity of their donors is very much appreciated.
“And, finally, thank you to the previous Board members as well as to my predecessor the former Minister of Health Zane De Silva who helped see this much-needed project into fruition,” concluded the Minister
Jonathan Brewin, Chairman, Bermuda Hospitals Board said, “As we stand here a little over a year away from substantial completion, on behalf of Bermuda Hospitals Board, I would like to thank the many people who have worked on this project to date from workers on the site, to the project managers.
“It has been a true partnership between both Paget Health Services, the sub-contractors, and Bermuda Hospitals Board staff. It is a testament to the hard work of these teams that the project remains on schedule and on budget.
“This roof wetting is a milestone event in the construction of our new Acute Care Wing. With the roof completed, all of Bermuda can see the completed structure and, I hope, feel the importance of it to our community’s acute care health services.
“It will connect with the existing KEMH building to provide comprehensive, high quality, efficient services for the people of Bermuda.
“This is important. The new wing is for everybody – this is why it matters. It’s important that it is the first choice for health and wellness for everyone in the community.
“The work inside can now begin and all of us look forward to next year when we can welcome patients and visitors to a greatly improved facility in which to receive their acute care services.”
Venetta Symonds, Chief Executive Officer & President of the Bermuda Hospitals Board was also on hand and said, “This is a historic day for healthcare in Bermuda.
“This roof wetting means a substantive amount of the actual construction of our new Acute Care Wing has taken place. This is the building which people will come to for Emergency, Diagnostic Imaging, Surgery, Inpatient care, Dialysis and Oncology.
“It will be the home for our truly acute services, giving services remaining in the existing KEMH facility, such as Maternity, Gosling, the Lab, and Rehabilitation the room to be enhanced, and for administration to be consolidated more efficiently in the space left.
“We thank our contractors BCM McAlpine and Paget Health Services for their attention to detail in this, the largest construction project on the Island. The project is on budget and I am advised that the contractors remain on schedule for us to move in next Spring.
“As we only have one hospital on the Island, we can all understand the importance of upgrading our facilities to ensure the highest quality healthcare services. Our continued commitment is to structure and deliver our services as efficiently as possible to control costs and affordability.
“As CEO & President of The Bermuda Hospitals Board I can say we remain committed to managing our resources to sustain service continuity and growth.”
Acute Care Wing roof construction fact sheet:
- The roof houses Bermuda’s largest solar thermal installation with a total of 24 solar panels. Each panel can produce around 40,000 BTU per day or 1070 BTU’s per square foot, to preheat hot water for the new building.
- The roofing system is hurricane rated. It has four principal components, each providing its own impervious layer to ensure that the Acute Care Wing remains watertight. The roof itself is a 14-inch solid reinforced concrete slab whose top surface is laid to a slope. A waterproof vapour barrier membrane is applied to that surface and insulation, averaging six inches is adhered to that surface. A single ply sheet membrane roof covering is then laid over a protective 5/8-inch board to complete the system.
- All water collected on the roof is conveyed to a 6,200 cubic yard basement water cistern where it is treated and will be used in the new Acute Care Wing.
- The roof hosts the penthouse plantroom which primarily contains the air conditioning units which service the 90 single patient bedrooms on the top three floors.
- The roof houses the boiler flues and the machine rooms for the elevators & laundry chute system.
- A safe access system will also be installed around the perimeter of the roof to facilitate access for maintenance and cleaning.
Yea see if it done on time and how over budget it is. There is a lot of secrets and dealings about this structure trust me. Certain people are making a major profit at the expensive of Bermudians not to mention this place isn’t even ours until we pay the PPP off in then 30years set out.
You’re probably right. I bet most of the building when done will probably filled with “Medical Tourist” not Bermudians. Most likely there will be a huge part dedicated to stem cell research patients.
Spot on, just look at the number of rental bikes in the parking lot, this is the fleecing of Bermuda by Black and Mac and the Bermudian contractors and workers are being given the slim pickings but no one wants to talk about it, as its very true…it’s secret!
New wing, same piss poor care.
You don’t suppose there will be a bed wetting ceremony for the new beds do you?
I’m sure there will be since the nurses hired don’t bother getting out of their chair to help patients go to the toilet when called on.
It is unfortunate that Dr. Ewart Brown and Mr. Zane Desilva were apparently not present for this event but I suppose Minister Gordon must have been thinking that perhaps these two have been rewarded enough already for this facility. Or is that they chose not to turn up as it is now apparent this facility will in fact be for the exclusive of Bermuda residents and will not be an international medical center as originally envisaged? Sour grapes and reduced profits all around?
I know there are a lot of overseas masons, carpenters and laborers on this job, i see them every day. I cant imagine how they are working there when we have so many Bermudian top masons , carpenters. and laborers out of work, It just bugles me,seems to me we need a labor authority to weed this out, its not right!!
Ask Zane.