The Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, or “CHUM” project, financed through a public-private partnership (P3), includes a new hospital and research center built in downtown Montreal on the St. Luc Hospital site. AECOM’s experts were selected as the project’s structure and civil engineering master team.
The 18-story-high hospital will contain 772 beds and have five underground parking levels. The proposed 11-story research center will connect to an existing office building.
While constructing 160,000 square meters of new buildings and rehabilitating 90,000 square meters of existing building, AECOM will face many challenges inherent to the site and the nature of the buildings. For example, the actual St. Luc Hospital’s operations need to be maintained at all times and its emergency department has to be continuously accessible.
Both old and new buildings will have to meet the national building code requirements, which involve a major seismic retrofit, site decontamination, vibrations and water control, and built environment preservation.
The CHUM is a world-class university hospital providing specialized and ultra-specialized care in some 35 medical disciplines. Its mission includes teaching, research, the assessment of health care technologies and intervention methods and the promotion of health. Every year approximately 345,000 outpatients, 22,000 inpatients and 65,000 emergency patients are seen at the CHUM.
The CHUM is the largest university hospital center in Quebec, not only in terms of care but also in terms of training and research, and acts as the Montreal Health District’s driving force. Its update and upgrade are part of an action plan meant to give rise to new organizations and institutions linked to the field of life sciences and to contribute to the modernization of university medicine here and to its reputation internationally.