Healthcare

CarolinaEast Medical Center and UNC Health Care broke ground in January of 2017 on the SECU Comprehensive Cancer Center in New Bern, N.C. Supported by charitable contributions from the State Employees’ Credit Union Foundation, the $35 million facility will enable CarolinaEast to provide consolidated cancer services in a single location. The 80,000-sf project is located next to the John and Reba Aylward Diagnostic Center and is slated for completion in late spring of 2018.

Combining wireless sensor networks with custom mobile apps to create interactive “sentient buildings” and smart community spaces has the potential to significantly impact the future of facility design in higher education, healthcare, research, and other sectors where increased collaboration and space efficiency are crucial.

Mohawk Valley Health System will begin construction in mid-2018 on a $480 million integrated medical campus in Utica, N.Y. Featuring collocated acute care, clinical care, and outpatient services, the 750,000-sf facility will provide 400 private inpatient rooms when it opens in mid-2021. The project was designed by NBBJ and is being built by Turner Construction. 

The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) began construction in January of 2017 on a $10 million expansion of the Education and Research Centre at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin. The three-story, 30,000-sf addition will provide multifunctional tutorial rooms, an atrium, research labs, conference rooms, and open-plan faculty offices. The general contractor for the project is The Stewart Group and completion is expected in mid-2018. 

After a one-year delay, Congress has passed the 21st Century Cures Act, which includes new funding totaling $4.8 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), $500 million for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to bring novel drug therapies and medical devices to market more quickly, and $1 billion to fight the growing opioid crisis. The NIH funding includes $1.8 billion for Vice President Joseph Biden’s “Cancer Moonshot,” $1.6 billion for President Obama’s BRAIN initiative, and additional money earmarked for precision medicine. The Cures Act funding is separate from, and in addition to, annual NIH budget increases. It comes on the heals of a $2 billion increase in NIH funding last year, the largest increase in a decade. If the trend continues, it could result in a need for additional research infrastructure in the form of renovations and new construction.

The Medical University of South Carolina is building the $385 million Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital & Pearl Tourville Women’s Pavilion in Charleston. The 225-bed replacement facility will include an expanded neonatal intensive care unit, a dedicated pediatric cancer floor, and a comprehensive pediatric heart center. Construction manager Robins & Morton began building the facility in November of 2016 and occupancy is expected in mid-2019.

Imperial College London began construction in early 2017 on the £70 million Michael Uren Biomedical Engineering Research Hub in London. Designed by Allies & Morrison, the collaborative 14-story building will provide flexible laboratories, an outpatient clinic, an auditorium, and interaction spaces. Located on the White City campus, the 215,000-sf translational research facility will be built to attain BREEAM sustainable design certification and will feature a highly efficient service model with interconnected utility plants on each floor.

University of Chicago Medicine opened the $61 million Center for Advanced Care in December of 2016 in Orland Park, Ill. Designed by Tsoi/Kobus & Associates, the four-story, 108,000-sf facility offers cardiology, orthopedics, gastroenterology, pediatrics, women’s health, surgical consulting, and radiation oncology services. Ground was broken in October of 2015 on the center, which provides 80 exam rooms, 26 infusion bays, a linear accelerator, and advanced imaging suites.

Hartford HealthCare opened the $150 million Bone & Joint Institute in December of 2016 in Hartford, Conn. As New England’s only orthopedic specialty hospital, the facility comprises two structures and will offer a comprehensive array of musculoskeletal services including preventative care, surgery, and recovery. A 130,000-sf hospital offers eight operating rooms, an outpatient rehabilitation and wellness hub, and 48 private inpatient rooms, with the ability to expand to 60.

The University of Virginia Health System is expanding and renovating its Charlottesville hospital. Designed by Perkins+Will, the LEED Silver project includes construction of a 15-story, 531,000-sf tower and renovation of 86,000 sf of existing space. Site work began in June of 2015, and Skanska USA was awarded the $142 million construction management contract in December of 2016.

Great Ormond Street Hospital will begin construction in January of 2017 on the £42 million Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children in London. Designed by Stanton Williams, the 140,000-sf translational research facility will provide collaborative biomedical labs and instrumentation suites to support the delivery of personalized gene and cell therapies and innovative medical devices.

Hamad Medical Corporation opened the 97,000-sf Communicable Disease Center (CDC) in Doha in November of 2016. Located at Hamad bin Khalifa Medical City, the facility will support the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases including tuberculosis, HIV, influenza, hepatitis, measles, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. The CDC features 65 private inpatient rooms with sustainable negative pressure and one hundred percent fresh air exchange, as well as a BSL-3 lab, an automated pharmacy, an outpatient center, and a travel clinic.

UC San Diego Health opened the $943 million Jacobs Medical Center in November of 2016 in La Jolla. Designed by Cannon Design, the 10-story, 509,500-sf facility includes the Rady Pavilion for Women & Infants, the Foster Pavilion for Cancer Care, and the Vassiliadis Family Pavilion for Advanced Surgery.

Doctors Hospital at Renaissance is partnering with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley to create a $34 million medical research facility in McAllen. The 83,000-sf building will be developed as a public-private partnership and will be leased back to the University at an annual cost of $2.5 million. The project will provide 16 research labs, core facilities, and clinical space for the study of diseases affecting the Rio Grande Valley.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center will construct the National Center for Health Security and Biopreparedness on its Omaha healthcare campus. Occupying the entire ground floor of the planned Global Center for Advanced Interprofessional Learning, the 30,000-sf facility will provide advanced simulation suites and inpatient quarantine areas for the management of infectious diseases such as Ebola. The biocontainment training center is supported by $19.8 million in funding from the U.S.