Redeveloping History: Turning Old Victoria Hospital site buildings into affordable housing
Redeveloping History: Turning Old Victoria Hospital site buildings into affordable housing
Deb McKenna, Construction Manager, Flourish
Flourish is a social enterprise established by Indwell that
specializes in affordable housing development
Everyone at Indwell feels privileged to be part of the Vision SoHo Alliance’s redevelopment of the Old Victoria Hospital Lands. The Vision SoHo project involves the adaptive reuse of the two remaining hospital buildings and the construction of five new buildings to create a co-ordinated mixed-income housing complex. The development will also include green space, retail space, underground parking, and public transit connections.
Indwell’s role in Vision SoHo is to repurpose two of the existing buildings – the War Memorial Children’s Hospital and the Health Services Building – to create 138 deeply affordable and supportive apartment homes.
As I assessed these two buildings in my role as Project Manager for Flourish, I noticed some significant challenges we would face: they were poorly maintained; they had been picked over for scrap metal; drains were missing; and there was water damage resulting in major interior damage.
Despite these challenges, there is no question that the buildings are well worth saving. Repurposing and retrofitting existing buildings have important environmental benefits compared to new construction. Conserving a heritage building also has cultural value for the wider community.
War Memorial Children’s Hospital
The War Memorial Children’s Hospital operated from 1922 to 1985 as a children’s hospital, and as a general hospital until 2010. After its closure, the rear additions were demolished, and the 1922 portion of the building was closed until a suitable development partner could be found to repurpose the building.
Indwell will adapt the original layout of the hospital, with patient rooms arranged around the perimeter to create independent residential units which will be accessed from the existing central corridors. This means that all units will have excellent natural light from the large exterior windows.
The building redesign will achieve the Passive House standard, which is the most energy-efficient building standard. Passive House buildings use 90% less energy for heating and cooling than traditional ones. Achieving this standard will lower the operating costs of the building, contribute to the affordability of the units, and reduce emissions that contribute to climate change.
The War Memorial Children’s Hospital
To maintain the historical look of the building, we will restore the exterior masonry to its original condition. The intention is also to preserve the original exterior wood doors, transoms (a horizontal structural beam or bar that separates a door from a window above it) and frames. Wherever possible, we will reinstate salvaged items that were removed when the buildings were closed. We also plan to restore the historic terrazzo floors to their original condition.
Some original building components are missing or too deteriorated to repair. In these cases, we will replicate the components based on what we can learn from surviving physical evidence and the original architectural drawings and specifications by architects Watt & Blackwell.
The existing single-glazed wood windows are a prominent feature of the War Memorial Children’s Hospital. These will be replaced with triple-glazed thermal window units with a pattern that replicates the original, allowing us to maintain the historic look while building to current, more environmentally and living-friendly standards.
Other interior areas will be reconfigured to suit the new layout. This will mean demolishing partition walls where the new residential units will be built, installing new washroom and kitchen facilities, and placing new interior finishes throughout.
Improvements are also being made to the land around the War Memorial Children’s Hospital. The large area in front of the building, owned by the City of London, will become a public square, to be called SoHo Square. All vehicle access will be located at the rear. The City of London has designed SoHo Square to support a range of community uses, and the landscape plan includes paving, seating, lighting, and public art. We expect that the new SoHo Square, with the restored War Memorial Children’s Hospital, will become a scenic architectural backdrop and a prominent gateway feature for the neighbourhood.
The community has given over $2M already in support of the transformation of this historic building. The City of London has also committed significant funding to the project. Federal and provincial funding for redeveloping the War Memorial Children’s Hospital is pending but the expectation is that it will come through so that construction can begin in the early part of 2024.
Health Sciences Building
The Health Sciences Building is significant because of its physical design and its historical and contextual value. Built in 1921 as Western University’s Medical School, the building has an “E” shape with three wings extending to the rear, with rows of large windows clustered into groups along its broad south façade. These features are representative of what’s known as the collegiate architectural style.
The medical school under construction
Like the War Memorial Children’s Hospital, the Health Services Building will also achieve Passive House standards. We will preserve the exterior façade and some interior features. The existing windows will also be replicated.
One of the exciting design features of this building will be a central space, a hub, where residents and people from the community can access food and food security skills in a variety of ways.
While funding is in process for the Health Services Building, our hope is that the design phase and permit application for this building will be completed by the end of the spring 2024.
The Vision SoHo development is an innovative partnership that will bring much needed housing – along the whole continuum – to London. I truly believe this development is going to change lives and bring hope to people who need affordable housing, and I’m excited to be part of this historic project.