(file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

End of an era

Former Saskatchewan Hospital demolition process begins

Jan 12, 2021 | 5:08 PM

The former Saskatchewan Hospital demolition process has now started.

The City of North Battleford announced roads are closed from Battleford Road to Hereford Street while the work is underway.

The work started Jan. 11 and is scheduled to continue to July 31.

Nancy Cherney, assistant deputy minister of the property management division within the Ministry of SaskBuilds and Procurement, said the province hopes the work will actually be completed even sooner than the projected date.

Silverado Demolition Operations Inc. of Saskatoon was contracted for the project, following a request for proposals.

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“Our plan is to start with the smaller buildings and work our way up to finish with the main building being one of the last to be demolished,” Cherney said.

“What will be left on site once it is all done will be the historic stone chapel that was hand-build by the mason who was a resident in the Saskatchewan Hospital at one point, in time,” Cherney said. “The stone walls – little low-running walls that are throughout the property – those will also be retained.”

The province will continue to preserve and maintain the three cemeteries adjacent to the site which will be accessible for family members and the public.

The Veterans’ Park, consisting of an array of trees and the cenotaph memorial site, will be transferred to the City of North Battleford, which will maintain the site in the future, and make it accessible to the public.

The nearby Drumming Hill Youth Centre in operation is not part of the property in question and will not be impacted.

As part of the work, the former Saskatchewan Hospital building will be demolished. However, some key parts of the structure will be removed and preserved for the Battlefords North West Historical Society.

“As demolition begins and carries on, we have been obviously in long-time discussions with the Battlefords North West Historical Society,” Cherney said. “They have an interest in some of the stone work, the cornerstone for example in the main building.

The society is also interested in retaining some historical doors, and various items inside some of the buildings.

In addition, they are also planning to salvage some of the brick-work from the former smoke-stack in the centre of the complex.

“We are making sure they get access to some of those key features and elements that have a heritage or historic interest,” Cherney said.

“The work is just beginning,” she said. “It is kind of the ending of an era, so to speak. But it is something that certainly needed to be done to restore that property to a really safe and esthetically pleasing condition, and that is what we are doing.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW