MONTREAL, May 29 /CNW Telbec/ - The Centre hospitalier de l'Université de
Montréal (CHUM) today launched a call for proposals that will lead to the
construction of the most important medical research centre in Quebec, which
will have a full staff of 1,300. The maximum budgetary envelope for the CHUM
Research Centre corresponds with a current real value of $320 million. The
current net real value of the project incorporates a combined total of the
costs for designing, building, funding, operating and maintaining the
infrastructures over the life of the partnership agreement, or 32 years.
"The research centre will be the first component of the CHUM to be built
downtown," said Dr. Denis R. Roy, CHUM General Manager. "Today we have reached
a specific launch point which, having completed meticulous planning for our
needs, means we now enter the productive phase of this great project that will
benefit CHUM patients and the Quebec economy."
Two consortiums, Accès Recherche CHUM et Consortium Axor-Dalkia, were
identified as potential private partners in the project in November 2007 after
CHUM launched a call that summer for qualifications to respond to today's call
for proposals. The two candidates demonstrated their technical and financial
capabilities to undertake a project of such international scope at that time.
CHUM will transmit to the two candidates some thousands of pages of technical
specifications that describe in meticulous detail the required functionality
so that the future CHUM Research Centre will meet the needs of the people who
will work and visit there.
Based on these specifications, each consortium will need to prepare a
comprehensive proposal comprising the design, construction, financing,
operations and maintenance of infrastructures over the life of the partnership
agreement. The selected partner will also be responsible for renovating the
current building at 300 Viger East (currently occupied by Videotron).
The CHUM will also ensure a harmonious urban integration of the project.
The architectural design must respect zoning laws adopted by the City of
Montreal, May 26, 2008.
"We've worked without respite for the last year to produce the
specifications for the new Research Centre," said Sylvain Villiard, Associate
Executive Director. "We put together a highly qualified team which will help
both consortiums as they prepare their submissions over the coming months."
Concurrent with the call for proposals process, CHUM will undertake
various works of construction, renovation and demolition of existing
buildings. The building at 333 St. Antoine, currently vacant, will be
demolished. The building at 300 Viger East, will be vacated July 31 and
modernization work will commence, to eventually house certain ambulatory
clinics, including the Renata Hornstein Evaluation Centre within the
André-Barbeau Movement Disorder Unit, as well as various teaching activities
such as simulation laboratories.
"The CHUM Research Centre already represents an impressive concentration
of grey matter, and is at the origin of discoveries that have had a
considerable impact on our global knowledge or various diseases said Dr. Guy
Breton, Vice-rector of the Université de Montréal. It brings together more
than 20 per cent of our Research Chairs, and hundreds of dedicated men and
women who have the health of our fellow citizens heart. In brief, it is
already the Pride of the Université de Montréal and I cannot help but rejoice
in the knowledge that it soon will be housed in facilities that will allow the
researchers and their teams to deploy their talents."
The CHUM Research Centre (CRCHUM)
The CRCHUM will become the most important concentration of expertise in
health research in Quebec. It will bring together a full complement of 1,300 -
nearly 400 researchers, 356 Master's, Doctoral and Post-Doctoral students,
technical and administrative staff - as well as the financial resources for
six research centres, all under the same roof. And they will have access to
the ultramodern technological platforms of CHUM and CRCHUM.
"This concentration of expertise is exceptional in both quality and
volume, as the Fonds de recherche en santé du Québec recently recognized,"
said Dr. Jacques Turgeon, Director of the Research Centre. For the last year,
we've reorganized our research axis in alignment with the CHUM's clinical
priorities, to allow us to offer world-level expertises in the areas we have
selected. Thus, the CRCHUM will become a turntable by increasing the Montreal
region's capacity for innovation, by attracting the best researchers and
students and by contributing to the enhanced knowledge transfer in all
sectors, in Quebec as well as abroad."
The Research Centre is primary focus is clinical research, that is to say
research which utilizes discoveries in basic research to develop new
approaches to the treatment of diseases, while opening the way to
possibilities that were unthinkable a few years ago.
"Research has contributed in a very real way to the improvement and
efficacy of medical treatments," Dr. Turgeon added. "For example, new
techniques have improved our ability to identify certain diseases, such as
hypertension and juvenile diabetes, even before they appear, which allows us
to prevent them or treat them more efficiently. Elsewhere, research is taking
us toward a regime of personalized medicine, where patients may receive
treatment conceived specifically with their individual biological metabolism
in mind and which will be, in this way, more efficient."
About CHUM
The Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) provides
specialized and ultra-specialized services to a regional and supra-regional
clientele. Within its more immediate coverage area, the CHUM also provides
general and specialized hospital care and services. The CHUM uses an
integrated network model to carry out its five-part mandate of care, teaching,
research, the assessment of technologies and health care methodologies, and
the promotion of health care. Through its determined efforts to continuously
improve quality of care and patient safety, the CHUM has again received
accreditation from the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation, for
the 2007-2010 period. Hôtel-Dieu, Hôpital Notre-Dame, and Hôpital Saint-Luc
make up the CHUM, with approximately 10,000 employees, 900 physicians, 270
researchers, 6,000 students and trainees and 700 volunteers providing services
to over a million patients each year. www.chumontreal.qc.ca.
About CHUM 2010
CHUM 2010 aims to improve the quality and accessibility of medical and
hospital care to the public, provide health-care training that will ensure a
high-quality succession of medical professionals throughout Québec, continue
to integrate the research and evaluation of technologies into the knowledge
industry and promote health. In the interest of patients' well-being, CHUM
2010 embraces the most recent architectural trends and blends into the urban
fabric of Montréal.
For further information: Chantal Huot, Communication advisor, Centre
hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), (514) 890-8000, extension
15380, Pager: (514) 860-7110; Source: Communication Department, Centre
hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM)
