Demolition looming for Terrace's Seven Sisters mental health facility
Terrace StandardFeb 05, 2019
The Seven Sisters regional mental health residence facility is likely to be demolished to make room for the new
Located between the current Mills Memorial and the
It'll be replaced by a new facility on a location not yet identified.
Details of the replacement plan are scarce but a posting on the website where provincial public sector bodies list construction and purchasing contract opportunities forecasts an expenditure of between
"The project is expected to be tendered within six months, based on a variety of factors including government approval," states the notice on the BC Bid website.
For now,
Once qualified, contractors will then be asked to bid when the construction contract is put out to tender.
The current Seven Sisters facility is just 14 years old, opening in 2005 at a cost of
As such it is separate from an eight-bed shorter stay residence facility in Thornhill and the 10-bed unit at the current Mills which takes in people in crisis for stabilization and treatment over shorter periods of time. All three places are meant for adults.
"But at this stage there is nothing much more I can say," said Palmer.
"We continue to work through the [new Mills Memorial] business plan with the province and until that is approved, we really can't provide more information."
Palmer said she was also unable to indicate if the new Seven Sisters facility would also serve as a central location for the various mental health services offered by
She said the current call for qualified contractors helps when a project is ready to go to tender.
"Bidders passing the request for qualifications (usually up to three) are then able to respond to the next step of the procurement (a tender or request for proposals) to a stipulated construction contract," she said.
Announced first by the then-BC Liberal government in the spring of 2017 and then re-announced by the current NDP government in
Palmer said a date as to when the Mills business plan would be ready is coming "soon".
An intensive lobbying effort followed, resulting in the 2017 and 2018 announcements.
Based on a business plan which better defines the exact size and services the new Mills will provide being approved this year, tendering and groundbreaking is forecast for 2020 with completion in 2023-2024.
Also likely slated for demolition is the smaller building between the current Mills and the Seven Sisters facility.
It houses the area's pediatricians and is much older, built first as a residence for nurses working at Mills and in later years as a residence, complete with caretakers, for expectant mothers from smaller communities so they could be close to Mills when it came time to give birth.