For Cathy Lovett, it’s like Christmas every week.

The project leader for the $180-million Juravinski hospital going up on the Henderson General Hospital site on Concession Street on Hamilton Mountain says she sees something new each time she tours the four-storey building, which is about 75 per cent complete.

“We’re at the finishing stage,” said Lovett, who noted that most of the work is now focusing on wall finishings, painting, tiling and lighting.

Lovett said the project remains on schedule and on budget, noting level zero, which is slightly below ground, is about 90 per cent done.

Level zero will be home to nine operating rooms, the intensive care unit, a pre-operation clinic and waiting areas.

Lovett said they expect to start moving equipment into the new building in June and patient care will start some time in August.

Patients will be moved from the Henderson to the new 425,000 square-foot hospital over a weekend.

Lovett said the new hospital will have more than 300 beds.

About 125 of those beds will be for cancer care and critical care patients in the new facility, along with about 200 beds for surgery and rehab patients in the 90 wing of the Henderson building.

The Juravinski hospital will also feature about $30 million worth of state-of-the art equipment, including a new MRI machine.

“Very few pieces of equipment will be transferred over,” said Lovett, who noted some equipment will be moved elsewhere within Hamilton Health Sciences.

A lot of it, essentially old technology, will be turned over to a contractor for disposal.

Most of the aging furniture at the current hospital will also scrapped

Lovett said all of the chairs in the patient treatment areas will have vinyl coverings, which make them easier to clean and disinfect, and all of the tables will have a wood-like finish, but will not be made of wood due to concerns about chipping.

While she said she’s excited the long-awaited hospital is only about three or four months from completion, Lovett has also been busy working on the second part of the new hospital project.

During Phase B, the 70 wing on the north side of the Henderson and the 80 wing (currently home to the ICU) will be torn down and replaced by four floors of hospital office, lab and support space. That should be completed by February 2012. The second phase will also include the hospital lobby and boardroom.

Lovett said decommissioning work of the two wings will begin about six days after the move in August.

She expects demolition work will begin in late fall or early winter.

Meanwhile, the 90 wing at the Henderson, which sits between the new hospital and the cancer centre, could be replaced in the next five or six years by a new $100-million tower that will house cancer surgery and other complex surgical procedures.

HHS officials hope to hear back from the McGuinty government on that proposal by spring.