Results of audit show multitude of construction-related issues at Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford

An independent audit, completed by JPH Consulting and released Friday (Sept. 4), shows 200 construction-related issues at the new Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford.

Construction on the facility, which houses patients and offenders living with mental health issues, began in 2015 and was completed in 2019.

However, a leaky roof caused sections of the hospital to not open in time. More than 20 leaks were identified.

Other issues at the hospital included a drinking water advisory at one point, raw sewage that backed up into the water supply, an issue with the water softening process, moisture and mould problems.

Central Services Minister Ken Cheveldayoff said, however, that many of the problems were not unusual for a project of that size. Construction of the facility cost more than $400 million.

“The Ministry of Central Services is working with Access Prairies Partnership to address more serious issues first. Priority is being given to ensure all items comply with building code, fire code and safety requirements. The report released today prioritizes 22 of the critical findings for more immediate attention.”

He said Access Prairies has already taken some action and it comes at no additional cost to taxpayers.

Graham capital president and owner of access prairies partnership CFO Tim Heavenor was in a P3, or Public-Private-Partnership with the province to build the facility.

He said that his company has been involved in thousands of projects in Saskatchewan and has a strong track record; however, some things in the construction process don’t always go exactly as planned.

“The construction process has risk and it’s our job to manage that risk. In the case of the Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford project, an unusual number of issues arose, largely outside of our control.”

He said his company would continue working with the provincial government to remedy any construction deficiencies, but he wouldn’t say when asked, how much it’s costing his company to fix everything.

“It’s in the millions,” he would only admit.

The province said it expects all remaining problems at the facility to be completely remedied by the end of the fiscal year– or in early 2021.

While Cheveldayoff and Minister Responsible for SaskBuilds Gordon Wyant said the many construction-related problems at the hospital weren’t out of the ordinary, no one could cite another Saskatchewan based P3 project that had undergone an audit process similar to the one in North Battleford, nor could anyone from the province say similar issues like it had occurred at other hospitals that had been completed.

The province also said it didn’t believe either staff or patients at the mental health hospital had been adversely affected by any of the construction-related problems.