Downtown Interior Health Building Shaping Up Nicely

Development of the new Interior Health Authority building in downtown Kelowna is well underway, and Senior Director of Development David Roche with Bentall Kennedy said that construction is right on schedule.

Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com

“Development is at an interesting point in the project now,” said Roche. “Any project that comes out of the ground takes a little bit of time to get the foundation set and the cores of the building up, but coming up next, the large concrete tilt-up panels will go up.”

The concrete tilt-up panels will form the perimeter walls of the new building, transforming the construction site at the corner of Ellis and Doyle into a more comprehensive building.

“All of a sudden the building will start to look like a building,” added Roche.

According to Roche, the tilt-up panels are currently in their casting stage. Once they're finished, they’ll be added to the building over the span of three or four days during the week of July 20th.

Although the building will be used by Interior Health, Bentall Kennedy will essentially act as their landlord.

“The building is owned by a fund that Bentall Kennedy is acting on behalf of,” explained Roche. “That fund retains ownership of the building and Interior Health is the tenant of the building.”

Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com

The new Interior Health building will be used to house a number of medical services and resources.

“The building itself will be five stories and house approximately 800 staff who will offer a wide variety of health-care services to support local patients,” said Norm Letnick, MLA, Kelowna-Lake Country. “These services include, Kelowna Mental Health, Seniors Mental Health, the Eating Disorders Clinic and the Community Ambulatory Treatment Clinic, among others.”

Shovels were in the ground for this project in February of 2015 and the completion date is slated for September 2016.