Part of the roof on the new hospital being built in Queen Charlotte does not meet B.C.’s building code.
Northern Health says it identified the problem during a routine inspection late last year, and Bouygues Building Canada, the company building the hospital, is working on a plan to fix it.
Steve Raper, chief communications officer for Northern Health, said the roof issue will not add to the hospital budget, but it’s not yet clear whether it might further delay the opening, which is now scheduled for late summer or fall.
The problem is that cladding on the roof is spaced too far apart to meet the B.C. building code.
Designed for Pacific northwest weather, the roof and walls of the building are weathertight, said Raper, so crews can continue working on the hospital interior while the cladding problem is resolved.
“There was a problem, and we caught it early,” he said.
“That’s why we have these processes in place, to make sure that we catch these types of things and fix them before we open the hospital.”