CBBarnett
Senior Member
Isn't the idea for the floorplate of the Chumir to grow as needed over time? which is why they kept the surface lot for future expansion?
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Urban Development and Proposals Discussion
- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
DougB
Senior Member
At one time, the concept was for the parking lot on the west to be sold for condos. Chumir is also too small to be an effective facility.
Mountain Man
Senior Member
My understanding is the lot is definitely for future expansion, but I could be wrong. As Doug said, the Chumir is too small to be a hospital, and as they exist currently they offer limited services. If you fall and have a bad break, the Chumir is a good place to go to get an ambulance to an actual hospital. If there are any ambulances available...
Albertasaurus
Active Member
The Chumir does serve as a useful relief valve from the big hospitals though. They are good for relatively minor injuries like fractures that don't require surgery, stitches etc. I went there for a broken wrist a few years back and it was definitely faster than waiting around at Foothills, and they have X-ray, cast clinic etc. - and of course I wasn't taking up space in the main hospitals that could have been used for more urgent patients. It serves a useful purpose for outpatient visits.
CalgaryTiger
Senior Member
I have also recently been to Chumir, checked the wait times and Chumir was the quickest, on a Sunday morning I only waited 10 minutes to see a doctor for what ended up being minor.
FCC1982
Active Member
This is my understanding as well - at least when it was initially constructed. The strategy may have changed since.
Chumir is classified as an “office” use (think professional building) not as a “care” facility (think hospital).
No overnight stays are permitted at Chumir.
Mountain Man
Senior Member
I've had x-rays at the Chumir before, and I use some of the clinics in there as well, so it definitely has it's place. Waiting in there is an experience though, always some interesting people around haha.
Rollerstud98
Active Member
When I tore some ligaments in my knee my mom took me to the 8th and 8th clinic. Some interesting folks there, would have been ‘99.
ByeByeBaby
Active Member
I think it's important to have a substantial urgent care centre in the middle of the city, given the huge daytime population (and pretty substantial nighttime population) nearby -- many of whom are without cars, making transport to a hospital harder. But an actual real-deal hospital is so much more than something like the Chumir is or could reasonably be. Here's the Sheldon Chumir (with Central Memorial Park for reference) to scale next to the two smallest hospitals, the Rockyview and ACH, as well as the Holy Cross that started this discussion. (I included the U of C's Child Development Centre as well as the Ronald McDonald House near the ACH; they are sort of part of the hospital system there.)
And here's my rough and ready attempt to show floor plate sizes; hospitals are funky things.Note I didn't highlight parking structures. The Chumir is 8 stories; so are most of the tall parts of the Holy Cross. The ACH is 5 stories plus a very substantial (higher than one story) rooftop mechanical floor; the Rockyview is sprawling, but built on a sloping site and into the side of a hill; many parts are five stories.
A one-block site like the Chumir just has no way to accommodate that level of medical equipment. You can't build vertically much more because of the need for elevators; once you start having in-patient treatment, then you need patient rooms and those rooms need windows so you can't have a giant boxy structure. (The Rockyview gets a fair number of windows through terracing and it's still pretty dark inside.) And as a reminder, these are the small hospital sites. the Foothills is the size of the Rockyview and ACH campuses put together and it is really built up.
And here's my rough and ready attempt to show floor plate sizes; hospitals are funky things.Note I didn't highlight parking structures. The Chumir is 8 stories; so are most of the tall parts of the Holy Cross. The ACH is 5 stories plus a very substantial (higher than one story) rooftop mechanical floor; the Rockyview is sprawling, but built on a sloping site and into the side of a hill; many parts are five stories.
A one-block site like the Chumir just has no way to accommodate that level of medical equipment. You can't build vertically much more because of the need for elevators; once you start having in-patient treatment, then you need patient rooms and those rooms need windows so you can't have a giant boxy structure. (The Rockyview gets a fair number of windows through terracing and it's still pretty dark inside.) And as a reminder, these are the small hospital sites. the Foothills is the size of the Rockyview and ACH campuses put together and it is really built up.
Attachments
I've always treated the Chumir as more of a glorified clinic in a way, which is fine as long as you know that going in. I was there once a few years back, for something (can't recall what it was) and my wife went there once when she was having an asthma attack.
CBBarnett
Senior Member
Great summary.
Would love to see an "urban format" hospital in Calgary one day. Something along the lines of Hospital row in central Toronto which has more-or-less infilled a few large hospital sites with more towers and infrastructure over 100 years. Great subway access:
Or either of the two major new hospitals in Montreal, like this one that's pure urban format, half of which is built over the capped downtown freeway. Great subway access:
As an urban aficionado, the province's institutional (e.g. hospital, school, university) site planning and site locating are both abysmal and have rarely shown any indication that they have awareness for anything other than car-oriented and repeatable suburban style development of our institution. But the past isn't always a good predictor of the future - hopefully a more urban Alberta will one day turn the needle so they will have to figure this out.
darwink
Senior Member
All the old Calgary Health Region strategies went out the window. Unfortunate, as a full main tower rebuild of foothills was in there plus a huge expansion.
Sure, it sounds great, but it is enabled by having the university right there.
Much easier to create more urban spaces and connectivity around foothills, than move the hospital and med school at a cost of maybe $10 billion or so.
I always thought a little more vision around the Cancer centre could have enabled something way better--putting it on the McMahon parking lot near the LRT. Then connect it with an automated people mover to Foothills, and Childrens, and eventually make a loop serving main UCalgary campus too.
I am confident overtime that this would have saved money by giving the hospital way more land to play with when redeveloping and expanding.
But alas. Wasn't meant to be. That would have required an MLA or a Mayor to bring all the players together to make it happen, with the vision of the end state before the consultations among parties even began.
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Mountain Man
Senior Member
I'm just happy we got the cancer center, the previous government wanted to do a bunch of smaller centres in all the hospitals instead of just one big one.
MichaelS
Senior Member
Westbrook LRT lands back in the hands of the City of Calgary - LiveWire Calgary
The City of Calgary has repurchased the Westbrook LRT lands back from a local developer, paving the way for potential development on the southwest parcel. According to an email from the City of Calgary, they said they exercised their repurchase option on the lands previously owned by Matco...
livewirecalgary.com
Let's hope someone more ambitious gets control of this, and we actually see something built.
Urban Outdoorsman
Active Member
That's good news. I think I'd like the city to follow U/D's model and just sell individual parcels to different developers. I think that would help things move much quicker. Also, if I recall correctly some of that land is slotted for pretty high densities. Given the current market I think it makes the most sense just to build out a bunch of 6ish story projects (like Truman's across the street) given there's a proven market for that right now. I don't even care if the city has to sell the parcels at a loss if it means making projects move ahead. Maybe like U/D they could enforce some higher standards for the quality of the projects.Westbrook LRT lands back in the hands of the City of Calgary - LiveWire Calgary
The City of Calgary has repurchased the Westbrook LRT lands back from a local developer, paving the way for potential development on the southwest parcel. According to an email from the City of Calgary, they said they exercised their repurchase option on the lands previously owned by Matco...
Let's hope someone more ambitious gets control of this, and we actually see something built.