Expansion plans for the Dartmouth General Hospital are moving forward with a contract awarded Tuesday for the design of the fifth floor and attached addition to the facility.

The fifth floor will contain 46 more beds and eight new operating rooms. The floor is currently outfitted with pipes and sprinklers, but has been used for storage and not patients. The project also includes a new intensive care unit and pharmacy.

The hospital design contract has been awarded to DIALOG Nova Scotia Architecture Engineering Interior Design Planning Inc.

This comes as the government and provincial health authority are grappling with problems caused by severe flooding last month at the Victoria General hospital site in Halifax.

"These new accommodations will help relieve some of the pressure from the Victoria General site in the short term and lay the foundation for the longer term plan that government has been working on," Health Minister Leo Glavine said in a news release.

The fifth floor work and expansion is in addition to renovation work currently underway on the Dartmouth General's third and fourth floors.

The first stage of detailed design is expected to take 12 to 14 months to complete and the renovations will begin soon after.

The projected cost of the five-year project is $132 million.