Western Memorial Regional Hospital Establishes New Infrastructure Standard and Earns LEED Silver Certification

Western Memorial Regional Hospital in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, recently received LEED Silver Certification.

The new hospital features Canada’s largest geothermal system. The geothermal field is roughly 600 feet below its parking lot, and provides 100 per cent of the ground source geothermal heating for the hospital, which is the largest solution of its kind for a health care facility in North America.

This system provides approximately 12 per cent total cost savings over the life span of 30 years. Additionally, the geothermal system was key in eliminating cooling towers at the hospital, which will save up to two million gallons of water per year.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certification is issued by the Canada Green Building Council, LEED and provides independent, third-party verification that a building project was designed and built, or operated, to achieve high performance in six areas of human and environmental health. These include location and transportation, sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

In November 2023, the new hospital was built and handed over by the Corner Brook Health Partnership (CBHP) to the province. NL Health Services is now in operational control of the facility and opened the new hospital to the public this spring.

“The new Western Memorial Regional Hospital, featuring Canada’s largest geothermal system, goes beyond delivering exceptional design and healthcare for western Newfoundland. It celebrates the beauty of the surrounding landscape, and together with Parkin Architects, PCL and the Corner Brook Health Partnership team, we are proud to have supported the delivery of this much needed healthcare facility,” said Mark Berest, principal architect, Parkin/B+H Architects in joint venture.

The Corner Brook Health Partnership is made up of developer, Plenary Americas, design-builder, PCL/MARCO, A Joint Venture, architects, Parkin/B+H, A Joint Venture, facilities management, Johnson Controls Inc., mechanical/electrical subcontractors, Cahill Plan Group JV, structural consultant, WSP Canada Group Limited, LEED consultant, Footprint and geothermal, Geosource Energy.