The shovels may not be in the ground yet, but the overseers of the Children’s Treatment Centre of Chatham-Kent (CTCC-K) know who will be doing the digging – and building – for the new centre.
Eight years in development, the new treatment centre will finally begin construction this summer, with Norlon Builders London Ltd. running the show.
The company won the contract bid in the wake of an open bid process for the new 58,000-square-foot facility on McNaughton Avenue West in Chatham.
Donna Litwin-Makey, chief executive officer of the treatment centre, said she and other centre officials are overjoyed at how the progress has snowballed in recent months. Once the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services approved the funding for the project, CTCC-K officials chose an architect, Montgomery Sisam Architects Inc., and now everything has reached the ready-to build phase with the selection of Norlon.
Litwin-Makey anticipates construction will begin this summer, with completion expected in about two years’ time.
“Preparation work is underway already,” she said of the McNaughton Avenue West site. “It’s going to be as fast as they (Norlon) are able to mobilize. But these things take a couple of years.”
Michael Parsa, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, is also happy to see construction about to begin.
“Congratulations to the Children’s Treatment Centre of Chatham-Kent on reaching this significant milestone,” Parsa said in a media release. “We are proud to partner with the community on this project that will help families receive the support they need closer to home. This new and expanded centre will provide a safe and fully accessible space to deliver a range of specialized services for children with special needs.”
Mike Genge, president of the CTCC-K Foundation, said donors have been incredible.
“It (construction) means everything. All the work we’ve done with the community. They are seeing it come to fruition. Our donors are now seeing it is actually going to happen,” he said. “We’ve got the government funding to build.”
Genge said the announcement should help with a final push for community funding which will take place in October. Build for the Kids will raise the final $500,000 needed to fund the construction.
Litwin-Makey said the push for a new centre has been underway since 2016 when CTCC-K officials submitted a “fresh” business case to the province.
To see it reach the point of construction leaves CTCC-K officials “thrilled,” she said.
“Our new space will be very functional to help kids excel. This kind of gives us the ability to expand to do things we don’t have the space for here,” she said.
A big improvement will be overall accessibility, Litwin-Makey said, plus just the ability to spread out again.
On the current site on Courthouse Lane, there is no space for programs for teenagers, for example. Instead, such efforts take place off site in local high schools.
“We’ll have an area more specifically designed for our teens,” Litwin-Makey said. “We will have a gym – an area where we can work on more recreational and more gross motor skills.”
There will also be a parent resource area and a music room, plus additional outdoor spaces, as well as expansions around the pool area.
Litwin-Makey credited the support of Chatham-Kent–Leamington MPP Trevor Jones for helping to push things along.
“Trevor Jones has really been an advocate for us and he worked hard to make this happen.”
