Ontario Construction News staff writer
A ceremonial beam has been lifted into place at Niagara Health’s new South Niagara Hospital site, marking a significant construction milestone for one of the largest health-care projects in the region’s history.
The raising of the final structural beam signals completion of the hospital’s structural framework and advances the $3.2-billion project into its next phase of construction. The 12-storey, 1.3-million-square-foot facility is being delivered by the EllisDon Infrastructure Healthcare (EDIH) consortium under a design-build-finance-maintain model.
The EDIH team includes EllisDon Corporation as lead builder, alongside EllisDon Capital Inc. and Plenary Americas as applicant leads. The design team comprises Parkin Architects Limited and Adamson Associates Architects, with EllisDon Capital Inc. also serving as financial advisor.
“Congratulations to all the workers and project partners on achieving another milestone in the construction of the new South Niagara Hospital,” said Todd McCarthy Acting Minister of Infrastructure. “Once complete, this modern and integrated facility will provide residents and families across the Niagara region with the quality care they need and deserve.”
Once complete in summer 2028, the new state-of-the-art hospital will add significant capacity to serve the Niagara Region’s growing population.
The South Niagara Hospital will feature 469 beds — 156 more than the combined total at Niagara Health’s Port Colborne, Fort Erie and Niagara Falls sites — along with a 24/7 emergency department, expanded diagnostic, surgical and therapeutic services, ambulatory services and complex continuing care inpatient programs. It will also include new Centres of Excellence specializing in stroke, complex care, geriatric care and wellness in aging, as well as enhanced infection prevention and control measures.
“With more than 150 additional beds, a 24/7 emergency department and experts across the spectrum of care needs, the South Niagara Hospital will provide convenient, world-class health care to residents in Niagara Falls and across the region,” said Doug Ford. “Our government will continue to deliver on our historic hospital and primary care expansions, so families have reliable access to quality health-care services, no matter where they live.”
The project is part of the Ontario government’s broader plan to protect and modernize the province’s health-care system, with nearly $60 billion earmarked over the next decade for more than 50 major hospital projects. The investments are expected to deliver approximately 3,000 new hospital beds provincewide.
Deputy Premier and Health Minister Sylvia Jones said the beam-raising ceremony represents tangible progress toward improved access to care in Niagara.
“Today’s milestone brings the province one step closer to delivering on its goal to connect more families in the Niagara Region to convenient, high-quality care close to home,” Jones said. “The new South Niagara Hospital will significantly increase capacity to meet the needs of the region’s growing population, ensuring Niagara communities can connect to the care they need, right in their own community for generations to come.”
The hospital will support Niagara Health in continuing to deliver a full range of acute-care services to approximately 450,000 residents across the region, including operating one of Ontario’s busiest emergency departments and providing specialized cancer, cardiac, kidney and acute care services.
Once the new hospital opens, Niagara Health will operate three sites in St. Catharines, Niagara Falls and Welland. The province is also supporting renovations and critical infrastructure upgrades at the Welland Hospital to enhance patient and family experience.
In addition to the South Niagara project, the province is investing $257 million in 2025-26 to support upgrades and repairs at 126 hospitals and 66 community health-care facilities, a 12.3 per cent increase over the previous year. Niagara Health is set to receive more than $4.54 million through the Health Infrastructure Renewal Fund in 2025-26, including $773,000 in one-time funding as an Exceptional Circumstance Project Grant to address critical infrastructure needs.
The South Niagara Hospital is being delivered under the province’s “Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care,” aimed at expanding and modernizing facilities to make it faster and easier for Ontarians to access care when and where they need it.
