Category #design Show all
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Videos: Virtual tours of new buildings
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Click on the video links below to check out progress inside the new hospital and the new Seven Sisters in Terrace. Learn more about the project and what staff have to say.
- New hospital virtual tour (video)
- New Seven Sisters virtual tour (video)
- MMH staff excited for new hospital (video)
Note these videos are from fall 2023 so many areas of work are further along!
These videos are also available on the Let's Talk MMH home page, on the right side, in the videos section.
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Highlight: Therapeutic multi-sensory rooms
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Sample ‘underwater theme’ multi-sensory room from Snoezelen.Mind and body therapy
Both the new Seven Sisters and the psychiatry department in the new Terrace hospital will feature a multi-sensory room. Multi-sensory rooms are therapeutic tools that are becoming increasingly important in supporting individuals experiencing mental health and substance use challenges.
Multi-sensory rooms have specialized sensory equipment and materials that help clients recognize and adapt their responses.
These types of rooms are particularly effective in mental health settings since they provide therapeutic interventions in a controlled setting. Research shows that multi-sensory rooms help empower individuals that use them, support emotional regulation, as well as decrease the use of restraints and seclusion in inpatient settings.
“We’ve wanted to incorporate multi-sensory rooms into client care for a long time,” said Brad Leier, NH Manager, Specialized Services. “With the extra space in new Seven Sisters and hospital, clients now have the chance to benefit from these calming and engaging spaces that are specially designed with their care needs in mind.”
Big thanks to the REM Lee Hospital Foundation who fundraised to help pay for the rooms!
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Highlight: Emergency Department
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Download a copy of the Emergency Department poster.
Department features
- On Level 1
- Designated entrance, waiting area and registration area (separate from main entrance, waiting, registration area)
- Significantly larger and more welcoming space
- More patient treatment spaces
- Patient spaces separated by walls (not curtains) improving privacy and infection control
- Digital and in person registration desks
- Washrooms and hand hygiene sinks throughout
- Enclosed, heated double bay ambulance garage
- Two team care stations with strategic sight lines that enhance patient care, and patient and staff safety
Rendering of Emergency entrance
Rendering of Emergency department hallway
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Highlight: Interior colour & materials palette
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Northern Health worked with an interior design consultant to create a safe, welcoming and positive environment for staff, physicians, patients and visitors. Key considerations:
- Nature
- Northwest BC cultures
- Northwest BC communities
- Creation of calm, welcoming and comfortable environment
- Promotion of health, wellness and safety
- Department workflows and functions
- Health standards and infection control
- Long term maintenance, cost and availability of materials
- Prevention of triggers
The colour and materials palette applies to both the new hospital and the new Seven Sisters.
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Parking situation continues to evolve
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New staff parking lot should be ready in November. Parking situation continues to evolve
The parking situation at Mills Memorial Hospital in Terrace continues to evolve, as construction of the new hospital continues.
About a year ago, a temporary gravel parking lot for staff was built to the left of the existing hospital’s main entrance on Haugland Avenue. That lot is now closed temporarily, as the space is being used to facilitate construction of a larger lot to it’s left, directly south of the new Seven Sisters facility.
After the new parking lot south of Seven Sisters is paved, the gravel parking lot and its fencing will revert to how it was and once again be ready for staff use, by mid-October, weather permitting.
Construction work will continue on the new paved lot to make it safe for use (for example, lights will be installed). This new lot should be open for use by the end of November, also weather permitting, and provide approximately 18 new staff parking spots.
Parking challenges and solutions
We know parking at the hospital and Seven Sisters is challenging and has been for a while ─ for staff, patients and visitors.
When the Mills Memorial Hospital Replacement project is complete, in 2026, the new hospital will have about 300 parking spaces. This is double the number of parking spots the hospital started with at the beginning of the project in 2021.
And yes. Parking at the hospital will continue to be free!
The bulk of the parking spaces for the new facility will be where the existing hospital stands, and so won’t be available until after that facility is demolished and the new lot is built by mid-2026.
As the project advances, Northern Health will continue to work on creating parking solutions for staff and visitors while juggling building the new hospital and supporting operations at the existing one.
We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time.
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September 2023 MMH project display posters
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Download an image of each of these posters in the Documents tab on the right hand side of the Let's Talk MMH home page.
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Colour makes all the difference
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Coloured panels now cover the outside of the future cancer care clinic, located in the southeast corner of the new hospital's main floor. The new Mills Memorial Hospital got a colour lift this month when the first brightly coloured exterior panels were installed .
The first of a range of earth- and wood-toned coloured panels were installed on the first floor of the southside of the building, starting June 8, and they give the building that pop of colour we’ve all been waiting for.
The earth and wood tones draw inspiration from the region's rich and earthy natural landscape. The colours also emulate a wood look, symbolizing Northwest BC.
Workers are now moving their way counter-clockwise around the new hospital and will begin installing them on the main floor of the front side of the building, facing Tetrault Street.
Updated Final Design
In the final design of the new hospital, the main floor features a mix of grey, earth and wood tones while the other three floors above ground are a mix of greys and white. The new Seven Sisters will feature similar colours as the main floor of the new hospital, to tie the two buildings together.
Initially, the exterior design presented to staff and community in 2021 primarily featured earth and wood tones. Feedback resulted in a lighter, more neutral look that blends into the Terrace’s mountainous landscape.
High Quality Panelling
The insulated metal panels, which will cover most of the exterior of the new hospital, have many advantages.
- Proven, long-term track record
- Hold up well to outdoor elements (for example, retains colour in long-term exposure to sunlight)
- Work with other energy saving solutions to optimize building energy
- Elegant and smooth finish
- Easily installed
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Reducing environmental impact with LEED Gold
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Despite the new hospital being more than double the size of the current building, it will still emit significantly less greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases produced per square foot in the new hospital will be at least 70% less than the current facility. And the total reduction in greenhouse gases, from the current facility to the new one, will be at least 40%.Our aim is for the new Mills Memorial Hospital and Seven Sisters buildings to be high performance, environmentally responsible buildings that operate efficiently and provide a comfortable indoor environment for the occupants, promoting patient, visitor and staff wellness.
As part of this goal, the new Mills Memorial Hospital Replacement project is working towards, and well on its way, to achieving LEED gold status, the second highest LEED designation possible.
LEED stands for ‘Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design’ and is the most common and widely used green building certification in the world. LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building project was designed and built, or operated, to achieve high performance in six areas of human and environmental health. From the Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) website, these six areas are:
- location & transportation
- sustainable site development
- water savings
- energy efficiency
- materials selection
- indoor environmental quality
“LEED helps owners and developers create high-performing, resilient buildings that reduce carbon emissions, save water, conserve energy and reduce waste. LEED also improves people’s quality of life by delivering the optimal conditions for health, comfort and productivity – such as better quality air and natural light,” according to CAGBC.
LEED requirements have advised many choices in the design of the new hospital and Seven Sisters – for example, lighting, waste management, construction materials, space allocation, number of exits and entrances and bike and electric vehicle stations, and more.
A facility’s power sources and systems are an especially major consideration in LEED. Northern Health analyzed and reviewed various alternatives for electrical and mechanical systems in the new hospital and Seven Sisters. Two major focuses included maximizing energy efficiency and minimizing ongoing costs throughout the lifecycle of the facilities.
The majority of the energy savings in the new Mills Memorial Hospital will come from recycling heat thanks to the new facility’s mechanical systems. Both the new facilities will have highly efficient, low-temperature heating systems. Heating will be primarily based on recovered heat from building exhaust, or simultaneously rejected cooling load. In peak winter conditions, the system will be supplemented with high-efficiency, condensing, gas-fired boilers.
The new facilities will also have a highly efficient cooling system. The system will use magnetic bearing chillers, the most efficient chillers on the market. These are frictionless compressor machines that do not require lubrication (oil); machines that require lubrication tend to degrade more quickly.
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Highlight: New ambulance garage
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Patients arriving at the new Mills Memorial Hospital by ambulance can expect a more comfortable and private experience as a result of a new, fully-enclosed, drive-through ambulance garage.The new ambulance garage is on the northeast corner of the main floor of the new hospital, near Keith Avenue.
At the current hospital, ambulances back into the emergency department lot behind the hospital. Patients are then transported out of the back of the ambulance, through the elements, through the main emergency entrance.
With the new garage, which has two bays, patients will be transferred in a fully-enclosed, temperature-regulated space. Once the ambulance pulls into the garage, the doors will shut to protect patients and staff from the outdoors and weather, which can be extreme at different at times in Terrace. Patients will then be transported directly into the emergency department, far away from the main emergency entrance.
The new garage was designed to meet industry standards in consultation with BC Emergency Health Services, which oversees the BC Ambulance Service.
Ambulance parking area, behind the hospital next to the Emergency Department, at the current hospital. 
View of ambulance entrance from inside current Mills Memorial Hospital. -
Project timeline
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