Site selection narrows for new Southlake campus

Three municipalities have been named as possible sites for Southlake Health's new hospital campus.

On Monday, the local hospital announced the search for an ideal site had landed on applications in East Gwillimbury, Georgina and Bradford West Gwillimbury.

“Southlake Health is pleased to report that numerous submissions were received in response to our proposal call for land suitable for building a large community hospital,” said Southlake in an April 7 statement. “Eight proponents met the Stage 1 mandatory criteria and were invited to provide detailed submissions as part of the Stage 2 evaluation. All eight proponents met the March 14 deadline for detailed submissions, which are currently being evaluated against rated criteria to identify a preferred proponent. These submissions include lands located in the municipalities of Bradford West Gwillimbury, East Gwillimbury, and Georgina. 

“Southlake wishes to thank its communities for their unwavering support. Landowners, philanthropists, elected representatives and officials have all rallied around their hospital to support an ambitious vision to transform Southlake into a two-site hospital system operating within a Distributed Health Network. We look forward to unveiling the site for the new hospital later this Spring.”

A new campus is at the heart of Southlake Health's new Master Plan and viable locations will need a minimum of 40 acres to develop “to support the proposed hospital and supporting healthcare facilities/developments.”

Part of the process includes a third-party “Fairness Advisor” being retained to ensure the site selection and other related processes are fair.

“Greg Dadd, a former Principal consultant at Optimus SBR, has assumed the Fairness Advisor responsibilities for Southlake's site selection process,” says Southlake. “Greg has held senior positions within the public sector, as Director, Supply and Financial Services with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Chief Operating Officer of Ontario Realty Corporation (ORC), the agency which managed all activities involving the provincial government's real estate portfolio including responsibility for land acquisitions and surplus sales and development.

“Greg has completed more than fifty assignments in a Fairness Advisor role, providing the practical application of his earlier career experience and accountability for ensuring fair public procurement processes. He has been engaged as a Fairness Advisor for a number of high-profile, complex infrastructure projects including several hospitals in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces. Greg recently completed site selection engagements with Lakeridge Health and Grand River Hospital and St. Mary's General Hospital for proposed new hospitals in Durham Region and Kitchener-Waterloo.

“Preliminary plans [for the new hospital] include expanding acute and post-acute care, critical care and emergency care, diagnostic imaging and surgery. Once land is secured, more detailed planning with our provincial partners will take place that will provide greater clarity to help outline Southlake's clinical operations to best meet our patients' needs.”

By Brock Weir