Council approves site plan for hospital's new Civic Campus

The planned $2.8-billion Ottawa Hospital Civic campus is due to open in 2028. (The Ottawa Hospital)

OTTAWA -

City Council has approved a master site plan for the new Civic Campus of the Ottawa Hospital, which is set to open in 2028.

The $2.8-billion, 50-acre hospital will be situated on federal land between Dow’s Lake and the Central Experimental Farm. The planned site area features 44 per cent buildings and hardscape, 22 per cent buildings with green roof and 34 per cent green space and landscaping.

The site plan has already been approved by the planning committee and by the National Capital Commission, which controls the federal land where the new campus will be built.

Council voted 19 to 4 in favour of the master site plan, with councillors Rawlson King, Catherine McKenney, Jeff Leiper and Shawn Menard voting against it.

Councillors also approved a plan that would have the mayor write to the federal environment and agriculture ministers, the MP for the area, Yasir Naqvi, and the NCC to ensure protection of the Central Experimental Farm long-term.

The site has been the source of controversy with residents in the area protesting the planned above-ground parking garage and use of the green space. Finding a new home for the nearly century-old Civic was upended in 2015 when the newly-elected federal Liberal government decided to revisit the plan by the former Conservative government to build the new site directly across from the old one. The NCC had recommended building the new campus at Tunney's Pasture, but the Ottawa Hospital Board unanimously rejected that idea.

Construction on the new campus is scheduled to begin in 2024, at which point the current Civic Campus will be 100 years old.