Industry News

The University of Minnesota will construct a plant pathogen laboratory with greenhouses on its St. Paul campus. The project was approved by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in June of 2008 and will accommodate research on diseases such as the virulent stem rust Ug99. The secure facility will feature advanced air filtration and containment technologies.

Washington County Health System broke ground in spring of 2008 on a 511,000-sf hospital in Hagerstown, Md.  Sited adjacent to Robinwood Medical Center, the facility will be comprised of three towers and is slated for completion in November of 2010. The $294 million hospital will include 297 private patient rooms, 53 emergency treatment rooms, 17 operating rooms, two cardiac rooms, and two trauma rooms.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded San Francisco-based URS Corp. a $90 million contract to design and build two medical instruction facilities at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. As part of the Medical Education and Training Campus (METC), the buildings will provide training for military personnel in radiology, pharmacy, nuclear medicine, biomedical equipment technology, and dentistry.

Group Health opened the 190,000-sf Bellevue Medical Center on July 1, 2008. Located in Bellevue, Wash., the four-story outpatient facility was designed by Ellerbe Becket of Minneapolis and includes 136 patient care rooms and seven operating rooms with ceiling booms for equipment. Bellevue Medical Center will partner with the adjacent Overlake Hospital where inpatient care will be provided to patients who require an overnight stay.

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center opened its 1,050,000-sf replacement hospital in Los Angeles on June 29, 2008. Constructed to rigorous seismic standards, the 10-story academic medical center was designed by Pei Partnership Architects with Perkins+Will as executive architect. Consultants include RBB Architects, Zakian Woo Architects, and Pickett Designs.