A vacated ambulatory care space at St. Boniface Hospital is getting demolished next month to make room for a $5-million expansion of the hospital's emergency department.

Winnipeg Regional Health Authority acting chief operating officer and vice-president of nursing and health professions Lori Lamont says the tender for the demolition work was released this morning.

"This will be demolition that will get us ready for the actual construction of additional waiting room space, and triage, as well as treatment spaces within this new area," says Lamont.

The demolition work is expected to start in April, and Lamont says they don't anticipate the demolition to affect parking or access at the hospital.

"It's pretty much contained behind four walls," she says. "When we get into the construction of -- the actual renovation work for the space -- there may be some access changes at St. Boniface but we'll certainly communicate those (and) that will be informed by the demolition work."

Lamont says they don't anticipate any surprises, but they're never entirely certain what's behind the walls until demolition starts.

Construction on the extra emergency department space at St. Boniface is expected to be complete in summer 2019, and Lamont says the construction won't have an impact on the functioning of the current emergency department.

The additional ED space at St. B is being made in anticipation of increased patient volume when Concordia and Seven Oaks each have their emergency departments closed. These are part of Phase 2 of the WRHA's Healing Our Health System process, which in phase one included the closure of Misericordia's ED and the conversion of Victoria Hospital's into urgent care.

According to a news release from the WRHA, "patients will not see any changes related to Phase 2 activities until the opening of the new Grace Hospital emergency department later this spring."