A multi-million-dollar renovation is underway at the Ponderosa Lodge seniors care home in Kamloops.

Interior Health’s facilities manager Lorne Sisley says the building’s HVAC system is being replaced for $4 million, and part of the roof will also be replaced.

He says the HVAC system in the building is original, and the building is 44 years old.

“With the heat that we were getting in these last few years and the need for higher filtration, again with the smoke from wildfires and the higher use of that building, we were finding that we need to have an HVAC system where we can actually rely on it for high use. And potentially actually have more residents within that facility.”

Meanwhile, the contract for the roof still has to go out to contract, and Sisley says the exact cost of that work will not be determined until then.

“There’s work on the HVAC project that actually has started already, it’s just the placement of the components wouldn’t happen on the roof until we get the roof done. But there’s a multitude of work within the floors of the facility for the HVAC system as well to be upgraded, so the roof is not holding up the HVAC project.”

Sisley says if all goes to plan, the HVAC upgrades are expected to be done by December.