Webcams offer bird’s-eye view of health complex construction
This view of the site is from camera four, which shows the construction entrance and surrounding area off First Street.
Members of the public can now view construction of the new healthcare complex and Walker Family Cancer Centre from their computers, thanks to the installation by Plenary Health Niagara of four web cameras at the construction site.
Plenary Health Niagara is the company designing, building, financing and maintaining Niagara Health System’s new facility being constructed at First Street and Fourth Avenue in west St. Catharines.
“It’s very exciting to be able to watch the progress as the construction of our new health centre proceeds,” says NHS President and CEO Debbie Sevenpifer. “With the webcams, patients and residents of Niagara can watch the transformation of the construction site taking place as the state-of-the-art healthcare facility is built to benefit our families and loved ones for generations to come.”
Snapshots taken from the webcams are broadcast to the project’s website from a time-lapsed streaming video, seven days a week between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Currently, at this early stage of construction, the images display and update every 20 minutes. As the pace of construction increases and visits to the website increase, the refresh rate of images may become shorter.
This map of the construction site shows users the locations of the four web cameras.
The images are now live on Plenary Health Niagara’s project website at www.nhs.plenaryprojects.com. By selecting the tab ‘webcams’ from the main webpage navigation system, viewers can utilize a map of the construction site and select from four different outlooks of the site.
“The exciting advantage of using webcams is that the public is enabled to become a part of the construction process from a computer without the necessity of coming out to the construction site,” said Plenary Health CEO Mike Marasco.
“There are also key advantages from a project management perspective in using webcams for large, multi-stakeholder projects such as this,” he said. “Webcams improve communication, provide the ability to review daily progress and visually confirm jobsite conditions.”
Visitors to the project website can find the latest facts and figures about the project, view aerial monthly progress photographs and learn more about the important design features being incorporated into the new facility.
On schedule to open to patients in 2013, construction of the new healthcare complex and Walker Family Cancer Centre began in April of this year. It won’t be long before the building becomes a part of the city skyline.
“With the first levels of the diagnostic imaging area and Walker Family Cancer Centre now created, very soon you will be able to see the physical structure rising out from the ground,” said NHS Chief Planning and Development Officer Gloria Kain. “Not only will the public have a chance to view the project’s progress from the webcams, they will be able to see it from the highway.” «
