In 1979, the Toronto Grace Health Care Centre (TGHC) became the first designated palliative care unit in the Province of Ontario. The TGHC has since grown to become a 119-bed facility providing medically complex and specialized care to those individuals who require Complex Continuing Care, Post-Acute Care Rehabilitation and Palliative Care; accompanying enhancements to its infrastructure, however, have lagged.

The renewal project was launched following a facility review in 2010 with the comprehensive overhaul of the buildings mechanical, electrical, plumbing and life safety systems. It also included a complete kitchen renovation to support a new food delivery program; functional upgrades to accommodate a new administrative suite; a consolidated and enhanced therapy and rehabilitation area; significant improvements to the building’s overall accessibility; and increased equipment storage spaces on each of the patient floors. Residual and underutilized space were identified and optimized to achieve an increase in program delivery area within the same total square footage.

The project was achieved within a very constrained budget with every effort made to reduce demolition and abatement costs where possible. Contractor insight and destructive testing of original finishes were integral to managing the complexities of renovating an old building. Life cycle costs and sustainability initiatives were also considered with the implementation of explicitly energy efficient building systems.  These seemingly modest architectural interventions ultimately had a significant impact on the experience of space and quality of care provided.