PRHC sues architecture firm for $30 million over leaky roof

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The architecture firm that designed the Peterborough Regional Health Centre is to blame for multiple leaks in the hospital’s roof, which now has to be replaced at a cost of at least $30 million, PRHC alleges.

In a lawsuit filed in a Toronto court in December, PRHC claims the faulty roof is the result of “negligence” on the part of Stantec Architecture Ltd, of Edmonton, which designed and oversaw construction of the hospital in the early 2000s (the facility opened in 2008).

Leaks have occurred in patient rooms, the dialysis unit and other areas of the hospital, posing “significant health and safety risks,” the lawsuit alleges.

Currents asked PRHC to specify what those health and safety risks are, but a spokesperson would only say that “all potential risks are being mitigated until full repairs can be completed.”

“Once the issue with the roof was identified, the hospital took immediate steps at its own cost to ensure that there was no impact on patients or staff,” PRHC’s director of communications Michelene Ough wrote by email. “Ongoing health and safety monitoring is in place, and hospital operations are expected to continue as normal.”

“As this matter is currently before the courts, the hospital will not be providing further comment at this time regarding the details of the case.” 

According to the lawsuit, a “noxious odour consistent with mould formation” has been detected coming from the hospital’s roof, and there are water stains in the dialysis unit, the fifth-floor mechanical room and a laboratory.

It was Stantec’s job to ensure the roof’s design was sound and then to also conduct regular inspections of the job site to make sure it was constructed properly, the lawsuit states. However, PRHC claims that Stantec “was negligent in the performance of its work” and failed to identify and correct defects that made the roof vulnerable to leaks.

Stantec should have known that the problems with the roof “posed a reasonably foreseeable dangerous risk to person or property” – and had a duty to warn PRHC of that risk, but didn’t, according to the hospital.

PRHC is demanding that Stantec pay at least $30 million, which is the estimated cost to replace the roof. Work is expected to begin in spring 2024, the lawsuit states.

Stantec didn’t respond to Currents’ request for comment and hadn’t filed a statement of defence with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto as of Jan. 16.

A great grandmother’s secret recordings inspire new play about antisemitism

When Peterborough poet and playwright Jon Hedderwick was a kid he stumbled on two unmarked cassette tapes tucked away in a China hutch in his great grandmother’s apartment.

Back home, Hedderwick pressed play and heard his Bubie Sarah, who was born into a Jewish family in present-day Poland in 1907, begin to tell her life story. She grew up as the First World War raged and as a number of pogroms, organized massacres of Jewish people, were being perpetrated in Eastern Europe.

Since 2020, Hedderwick has been working with these tape recordings as source material for a new one-man play, Bubie’s Tapes, which premiered last night at The Theatre on King (TTOK).

I interviewed Hedderwick at TTOK during a break in rehearsals last week. He discussed how the play has become “tragically timely,” with both antisemitism and Islamophobia on the rise as Israel continues its assault on Gaza in response to Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel last October.

Read the interview here.

Other stories to watch

Housing supply

Peterborough Mayor Jeff Leal claims the city has exceeded its provincial housing construction target for last year, but the Ontario government appears to disagree. The province gave Peterborough a target of 345 new housing starts for 2023. A city press release claims Peterborough surpassed the target because city hall issued building permits for 435 new housing units last year. 

But the province measures progress toward its housing targets based on housing starts, not building permits issued. A housing tracker on the province’s website says Peterborough counted 118 housing unit starts last year, only 34 percent of the target. Municipalities must achieve 80 percent of their annual housing target to be eligible for the province’s Building Faster Fund, meant to speed up housing construction. Leal has appointed eight people to a Mayor’s Task Force on Housing Creation to make recommendations on how to get more homes built.

The discrepancy between building permits issued by the city and actual housing starts suggests that some of the factors holding up home construction are beyond the municipality’s direct control. “What we’re hearing routinely from the same people who complain about how long it takes to get a permit approval or a planning approval, is that they’re actually not planning on building anytime soon due to market conditions,” the city’s acting infrastructure and planning commissioner told Currents in the fall.

Coroners inquests

Coroners inquests will be held to examine the deaths of four individuals who died at the Central East Correctional Centre (CECC) in Lindsay between 2020 and 2022, the province announced on Friday. The inquests are mandatory under the Coroners Act. A recent inquest into the death of Soleiman Faqiri at the CECC found that Faqiri’s death was a homicide. Faqiri died after an altercation in a jail cell involving around two dozen correctional officers.

PHC seeks new CEO

The Peterborough Housing Corporation is hiring a new CEO. The social housing provider’s current CEO, Hope Lee, informed the board in the fall that she was ready to retire, she wrote. Lee took over as CEO after Darlene Cook departed from the role in late 2021. Cook had been CEO for about two decades. “While I have enjoyed my time here at PHC and hope that some positive change has occurred, the Board was aware I wasn’t interested in fulfilling the role on a long-term basis,” Lee wrote to Currents.

With over 1,000 units, the PHC is by far the largest provider of social housing in Peterborough. The city wants to redevelop PHC properties to provide for even more affordable units — but finding funding for that project has proven difficult.

Cold weather

With a period of cold weather expected to continue into the weekend, the Trinity Community Centre will offer extended hours for those who need a place to keep warm, the city announced today. Until January 20, the Centre will be open for 22 hours a day, with one-hour closures in the morning and evening to enable staff to set up and tear down cots and other overnight accommodations. Environment Canada is forecasting a low of -20°C on Friday night.

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