Building or renovating a facility
Facilities must adhere to the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Z8000 standard for the planning, design and construction of health-care facilities.
Pre-construction
You should involve the College and an interdisciplinary design team (IDT) of experts in the planning process before a space is purchased or leased and before building permits are submitted. You run the risk of not being able to offer the scope and extent of services you had intended if you don’t contact the College and involve an experienced health-care IDT first. To make your accreditation process smoother, complete the following steps.
- Make sure there is a least one College registrant leading this project
- This person is usually the intended facility's medical director
- The project leader (registrant) may request an information package for more information
You should have a plan regarding:
- procedure types (e.g. orthopedic surgery, ophthalmology, endoscopy)
- level of anesthesia used (e.g. general anesthesia, procedural sedation, local anesthesia only)
- number of procedure and/or operating rooms
- special equipment needed (e.g. intra-procedural X-ray, laser)
- patient populations (e.g. pediatrics)
- procedure volume
You need to retain an IDT comprised of:
- architect
- infection control professional
- functional planners
- engineers
- construction professionals
The IDT should be experienced in the planning, design and construction of ambulatory care centres, such as nonhospital facilities, and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) standards for health-care infrastructure such as Z8000, HVAC, and medical gas pipelines.
You will need to purchase and/or have access to and review the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) standards, including Z8000, HVAC, and electrical.
Your IDT needs to conduct a site evaluation to verify if the desired site location:
- is suitable for the intended scope of services
- provides the necessary space for the build out
- can be designed and constructed in conformance with the CSA standards
As part of the site evaluation, the engineers also need to conduct a technical review of the site’s mechanical and electrical systems (e.g. plumbing and HVAC) to determine whether they can come into conformance with CSA standards.
Review relevant policies
We advise you to review these specific NHMSFAP policies before starting your renovations.
| Resource | Topic |
|---|---|
| Policy | Renovations and New Construction to a Facility |
| Policy | Interdisciplinary Design Team Membership |
| Policy | Facility Design Assessment |
Ready to build a new facility?
Use this quiz to see if you are ready to move onto the next step in the process.