Construction on the new building for the Central Lambton Family Health team could begin this fall.

The team of seven family doctors and nine health professionals currently works out of Charlotte Eleanor Englehart Hospital but the team and its board has been planning  new facility to be built at Englehart Park on Glenview Drive for over a year.

Petrolia Mayor John McCharles, who is the treasurer for the team’s board, says the plans are now complete and a builder – Southwest Construction from London – has been chosen.

Southside Construction will own and build the 20,000 square-foot building which will house the Central Lambton Family Health Team and some commercial businesses such as a drug store, dentist and a chiropractor. McCharles says the health plaza will likely cost between $4 and $5 million to build.

“We have the blessing of Lambton County and the (St. Clair Region) conservation authority and now we’re waiting on the Ministry of Health,” says McCharles.

While the ministry won’t provide direct funding building’s construction, it will be paying rent and needs to approve the plans. McCharles says that approval could come by the end of the month.

“We hope to get started this year,” says McCharles adding it will likely be late summer before the building is complete. “It is a specialty building for doctors and that takes extra time and special materials.

“But it will certainly be nice to get that going.”