CCPPP announces Canada’s top P3 projects for 2024

Transformational health-care facilities dominated the 2024 National Awards for Innovation & Excellence in P3s today, with winners announced in Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Ontario.

Presented by the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships (CCPPP), the seven award winners also included an all-season highway in the Northwest Territories, a new courthouse in downtown Toronto and a school bundling project now serving 7,000 students in Alberta.

The winners were announced today at the P3 National Awards Gala Luncheon, held on the final day of P3 2024, Canada’s Infrastructure Conference. 

“We had a tremendous group of 10 nominees this year, showcasing the vitality and variety of P3s delivering critical services to Canadians in communities across the country. In particular, the projects we celebrated this year showcase the long-term nature of P3 agreements and the strong spirit of partnership required to deliver quality services to our communities for decades,” said Brad Nicpon, Chair of the Awards Selection Committee and Partner, McCarthy Tétrault LLP.

“These project teams are collaborating together to find innovative ways of providing better care and experiences for patients, students and families, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower ongoing operational costs, and in being more inclusive to welcome, represent and benefit Canada’s diverse communities.”

Created in 1998 by the Council, the awards celebrate and recognize Canada’s cutting-edge infrastructure projects involving public sector entities like governments and educational institutions partnering with the private sector.

Last year, the awards committee retooled the project award categories to better reflect the changing dynamics of Canada’s P3 infrastructure pipeline and to highlight the need to create better, more resilient and longer lasting infrastructure for our communities. This included added categories recognizing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and P3 Service Delivery.

Here are this year’s winners:

Gold Award – P3 Design & Construction

Western Memorial Regional Hospital (Newfoundland and Labrador)

The new 600,000 sq. foot hospital, which opened to the public in spring 2024, has 164-bed acute beds and incorporates several new services, including state-of-the-art cancer treatment facilities so that cancer patients from remote and rural areas in the west of the province no longer need to travel to St. John’s for the care they need. The facility is also home to Canada’s largest geothermal system. The geothermal field is approximately 183 metres below the hospital’s parking lot and provides 100 per cent of the ground source geothermal heating for the hospital – the largest solution of its kind for a health-care facility in North America. The project uses a design-build-finance-maintain (DBFM) P3 model. 

Partners: Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Western Regional Health Authority and Corner Brook Health Partnership (Plenary Americas; PCL Constructors Canada Inc.; Marco Services Limited; B+H Architects; Parkin Architects Ltd.; and Johnson Controls)

Gold Award – P3 Service Delivery

Tłı̨chǫ All-Season Road (Northwest Territories)

The 96-kilometre highway, which opened to traffic in November 2021, connects the Tłı̨chǫ community of Whatì to the Northwest Territories’ all-weather Highway 3, located approximately 170 kilometres northwest of Yellowknife. The gravel highway replaced a seasonal winter road that was becoming increasingly difficult to construct and maintain due to climate change. The project includes one of the first ever equity investments in a P3 project by an Indigenous government in Canada. The project also implemented an innovative climate change risk sharing mechanism and was delivered on-budget and ahead of schedule, despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since opening, 100 per cent of the project’s operations and maintenance labour have been undertaken by Indigenous personnel. The project uses a design-build-finance-operate-maintain (DBFOM) P3 model.

Partners: Government of Northwest Territories and North Star Infrastructure GP (Kiewit Canada Development Corp. and Tłı̨chǫ Government)

Gold Award – P3 Service Delivery

Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre – Ontario

The Royal was the first public hospital in Ontario to use the design-build-finance-maintain (DBFM) P3 model. The project marked a significant milestone in the evolution of a prestigious mental health care institution, ushering in a new era for a facility with roots dating back a century. This transformative redevelopment project created a state-of-the-art 188-bed facility, designed to meet the modern demands of mental health care and research. The site includes a three-storey building for both inpatient and outpatient services, a seven-storey research tower, a 200-seat auditorium, an education center, and a parking facility with more than 500 spaces. Now, in the 18th year of the operations phase of its 20.7-year P3 service contract, the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre stands out as a remarkable project for its facility management due to its exceptional integration of advanced health-care services with seamless operational management.

Partners: Royal Ottawa Healthcare Group and The Healthcare Infrastructure Company of Canda Inc. (EllisDon Capital; EllisDon Facilities Services; Parkin Architects Ltd. and Adamson Associates Architects; Brisbin Brook Beynon Architects Inc.; Carillion Canada, EllisDon Corp.; Borealis Infrastructure; Plenary Americas; and Fiera Infrastructure)

Gold Award – Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)

McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), Glen site – Quebec 

The MUHC is one of Canada’s largest hospitals. The campus-style teaching hospital/medical complex was formed through a merger of five teaching hospitals. The facility is now 10 years into its service delivery phase, which is in place under the design-build-finance-maintenance (DBFM) P3 agreement until 2044. MUHC generates savings of approximately $2.5 million a year because of energy efficiency measures implemented during construction. In fact, energy consumption is 35 per cent lower than the average Canadian hospital. The site is LEED Gold Certified for New Construction (2016) and LEED Gold Certified for Existing Buildings (2019). With a view to continuous improvement, the MUHC team and its partners are currently working to maintain the hospital’s LEED Gold certification at the next renewal, which is scheduled for later in 2024.

Partners: McGill University Health Centre and McGill Healthcare Infrastructure Group (AtkinsRéalis/BBGI, part of AtkinsRéalis Infrastructure Fund, and Innisfree)

Silver Award – P3 Transaction

CAMH Phase 1D Waverley House Secure Care & Recovery Project (Ontario)

This new facility, which started construction in March 2024, is continuing to deliver on CAMH’s mandate to change the way people with mental health needs are treated in Ontario, providing a design that is holistic with the neighbourhood and ensuring a dignified and compassionate place for people to come for help. The seven-storey 800,000 sq. foot building will include space for 214 core patient beds, with an additional 20 beds to help with provincial surge requirements, clinics for patients receiving care in the community, recovery-based therapeutic spaces, a secure outdoor space for treatment and underground parking. Enhanced collaboration allowed the project team to advance the design further than other design-build-finance (DBF) projects, resulting in greater certainty and more competitive pricing from the trade community.

Partners: Infrastructure Ontario, CAMH and PCL Partnerships (PCL Investments Inc., PCL Constructors Canada Inc., Diamond Schmitt Architects & Architectural Resources; Modern Niagara; Symtech; Smith + Andersen; Entuitive; and TD Securities)

Silver Award – P3 Design & Construction

P3 Schools Bundle #2 (P3SB2) – Alberta

The $300.3-million project is the first ever P3 schools bundle in Alberta comprised exclusively of high schools. The state-of-the-art schools, which opened earlier this fall, are serving almost 7,000 students in the municipalities of Blackfalds, Edmonton, Leduc and Langdon. In addition, using a design-build-finance-maintain P3 is saving an estimated $114.5 million over the 30-year life cycle of the project compared to a traditional build contract. The ability of the project to progress from procurement to financial close during the pandemic as well as deliver Value-for-Money for taxpayers showcases the benefits and value of a P3 bundling approach to delivering schools. The design-build-finance-maintenance (DBFM) project is notable for the early engagement with school jurisdictions enabling them to directly inform the design process. The uniqueness of each high school breaks the stereotype of P3s delivering “cookie cutter” facilities.

Partners: Alberta Infrastructure and Concert-Bird Partners (Bird Construction; Bird Capital; Wright Construction; Ainsworth; Concert Infrastructure; Manulife Financial; ATB Financial)

Award of Merit, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)

Ontario Court of Justice – Toronto

Ontario’s first high-rise courthouse, which opened in 2023 in Toronto’s downtown core, amalgamated six Ontario Court of Justice criminal courthouse locations in one new, accessible location. Along with its 63 courtrooms and 10 conference rooms, the 17-storey facility weaves Indigenous engagement and inclusion within the built environment and site. This is highlighted by two of the Gladue courtrooms, featuring circular tables built to reflect the collaborative nature of many Indigenous proceedings. The mechanical systems for these courtrooms also specially accommodate traditional smudging ceremonies. On the ground floor, there is also an Indigenous Learning Centre. The facility, which uses a design-build-finance-maintain (DBFM) P3 model, also offers a barrier-free environment that enables all visitors and occupants to travel throughout the building with ease. Accessibility features were informed by consultation with an Accessibility Advisory Group, and accessibility consultants Gensler and Human Space.

Partners: Infrastructure Ontario, Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General and EllisDon Infrastructure (EllisDon Capital Inc., EllisDon Design Build Inc., Renzo Piano Building Workshop, NORR Limited, EllisDon Facilities Services Inc. and SNC-Lavalin O&M Inc.)