What's Coming Next in Site Redevelopment

The next step in CAMH's Queen Street redevelopment project

With the first phase of Transforming Lives Here, the Queen Street redevelopment project, due to be occupied and operational by the end of March 2008, thoughts are quickly turning to the next steps of the project. Pictured below, Phase 1B of our project will dramatically transform the current campus of 1001 Queen Street West through the removal of the existing Administration Building and the construction of three new buildings. This next step in the Queen Street redevelopment project will make great strides towards our vision of providing high-quality and integrated mental health and addiction care in a revitalized urban village.
 

click above to expand this image

A short introduction to the next phase

With this next step in the Queen Street redevelopment project, CAMH is delivering what it has promised from the beginning: the replacement of an institutional campus with a real community setting for client care.

A new Client Care Building (shown below) will include 12 new beds for youth aged from 15 to 24 who are dealing with both mental health and addictions issues, a vulnerable and high-needs group. These beds are the first in their kind in Toronto and reflect CAMH’s commitment to extending high-quality care towards under serviced groups. This building will also house CAMH's Geriatric Mental Health Program, which combines 48 in-patient beds with a suite of outpatient programming and supports. The integration of Geriatric Mental Health inpatient and outpatient programs in one building will simplify and improve client access to CAMH’s programs and reflects our client-centered philosophy of care.

(Above Left) The new client care building will feature a private landscaped courtyard, and terraces on each floor (Above Right) The building viewed from future Shaw Park, looking west along 'New Street'

Silos between Addictions and Mental Health treatment will come down as CAMH’s programs come together at the Queen Street hub. At the end of Phase 1B, CAMH’s Addictions Program will be fully integrated at the Queen Street site, and no longer split between different locations. The co-location of addictions and mental health professionals will lead to increased collaboration between CAMH staff and better results for clients, particularly the 40 per cent who have both disorders concurrently. Furthermore, the Queen Street redevelopment is not just a Toronto story — in our new hub, CAMH will provide clinical training for physicians, nurses and allied health care workers. All of Ontario will benefit from our specialized care.

 

Looking east along future 'New Street.' CAMH's new Administrative & Outpatient Hub is to the left; at right is the future central plant/parking garage/gymnasium. Tree-lined boulevards will be constructed throughout the new urban village.

We can never know exactly how medical science will change mental health and addiction care in the future, but we can build flexible buildings that can accommodate changing needs and uses over time. Through the construction of flexible buildings, CAMH’s redevelopment project will ensure that our facilities can keep pace with advances in treatment. The three new buildings of this phase feature large windows and plenty of natural light, and will both complement and add to the Queen Street West neighbourhood. Great outdoor spaces, such as a private courtyard for CAMH clients, generous sidewalks and tree-lined boulevards, will also be provided.

CAMH submitted a Site Plan Application for Phase 1B of the redevelopment project to the City of Toronto in June 2007 and hosted an Open House to introduce the project to the community on October 3, 2007. Preparatory work on the new roads will begin in Spring 2008. Over the course of 2008, CAMH will gradually relocate programs, services and staff from the existing 3-story brick Administration Building that fronts on Queen Street West. This building will be demolished in early 2009 to create the Phase 1B construction site. We expect the three buildings of Phase 1B to be completed by Fall 2009. For a visual illustration of CAMH's Queen Street site during Phase 1B construction and at completion, please click on the graphics below.

(Above Left) A graphic guide to the Phase 1B project schedule. (Above Right) CAMH's Queen Street site at the conclusion of Phase 1B of the Queen Street redevelopment project -- Fall 2009.

As the next phase of Transforming Lives Here continues to come together, please keep an eye on this space for news and information.

• Print