The development of the Mid Atlantic Wellness Institute could almost double the cost estimated in a 2005 report.

However, the reconstruction of the institute is being "decoupled" from the phasing-in project for the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH).

This according to the Johns Hopkins Review Second Phase Report revealed yesterday at a press conference that also reviewed the new phased-in 25-year plan for the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

According to an overall cost comparison graph included in the Johns Hopkins Review the Estate Master Plan done by CannonDesign in 2005, the current projected costs of the project would be $77,035,060.

Johns Hopkins, however puts the cost of the project at $125,911,483 pointing out the lack of cost for a parking structure and perhaps severe underestimation of the capital equipment cost in the EMP report.

Explaining why their estimate came in at almost double the EMP's the report states: "Site costs appear very low at roughly $1 million considering the extent of topography, building demolition, site utility, water storage and waste water treatment scope.

"The current plan indicates a parking structure integrated under the proposed new building and the phase II Review team found no cost allocation for this parking structure."

However, plans for this project have been turned into a separate development project that BHB CEO David Hill said was necessary to ensure the right services were included in the new buildings.

He said: "There is a series of services (offered at MAWI) so what we need to be sure of before we initiate the bricks and mortar is what we need."

According to their review of the EMP's development plan for MAWI the institute will have to be rebuilt on a non-developed, open area on the campus.

The EMP conceptual site plan shows the replacement facility over top of the substance abuse centre. Johns Hopkins, however, believes it will have to be built on the "terraced slope and community park".

Other facilities such as the community services and parks will have to be constructed after the new MAWI replacement facility on the open land is occupied and existing buildings are demolished. The Report also states that the suggested continuing care facility for the institute be eliminated and that MAWI improvements be "decoupled" from the KEMH developments to be scheduled and funded separately.