Academic Medical

Cedars-Sinai Health System opened the Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion in Los Angeles in summer of 2013. Integrating world-class patient care with medical research and teaching, the 11-story, 820,000-sf facility provides translational labs in close proximity to clinical settings. The pavilion was designed by HOK and houses the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, the neurosciences program, the Regenerative Medicine Institute, an education center with advanced simulation labs, and two floors of procedural space.

The University of Massachusetts Medical School is initiating an energy retrofit of the Lazare Medical Research Facility in Worcester. Airside solutions provider Aircuity will install demand control ventilation (DCV) systems on a total of nine floors, including eight floors of laboratory space and a vivarium level, to provide significant cost savings and optimal indoor air quality. The retrofit is expected to reach completion in spring of 2014.

The Hospital for Sick Children opened the $400 million Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning in Toronto in September of 2013. Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects and built by EllisDon, the 21-story, 750,000-sf tower features advanced laboratories, learning facilities, and interaction spaces to support collaborative biomedical research.

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) is proving that extensive planning and looking beyond typical short-term measures can net significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as cost savings, even in high-powered lab facilities. In only the third year of a 17-year project, CUMC has realized a 4 percent drop in greenhouse gasses, and a 15 percent drop in utility costs.

The National University of Ireland, Galway has begun construction on the $27 million Clinical Research Facility and Translational Research Facility (CRF-TRF). The four-story, 57,000-gsf project is located on the grounds of University Hospital Galway to support collaborative research and patient care. The ground and first floors will house the Health Research Board (HRB) Clinical Research Facility which will include an area for the study of regenerative medicine.

The University of Michigan will begin construction in fall of 2013 on a $50 million academic facility for the School of Nursing. The 78,000-sf building will feature active learning classrooms and a technology-rich clinical training center with simulation suites. The facility will also accommodate a small number of faculty offices. Ground was broken on the project in April of 2013 and occupancy is expected in 2015.

With academic research funding either flat or slumping, it’s time to rethink current laboratory design standards. Concurrent with the funding slide is a hike in both direct costs (salaries, for example) and indirect research costs like spending on facilities operation, equipment, and labor. At the same time, the demand for space continues to increase unabated.

UMass Memorial Health Care opened its 14,000-sf Cancer Center at Marlborough Hospital in September of 2013. Designed by The S/L/A/M Collaborative, the $12.8 million facility features an illuminated entrance pavilion, an infusion therapy space with abundant natural light, and a healing garden with a reflecting pool.

Winthrop University Hospital celebrated the topping out of the $65 million Winthrop Research Institute in September of 2013 in Mineola, N.Y. The five-story, 95,000-sf building was designed by Perkins Eastman and is slated for completion in 2015. The translational research and academic facility will provide classrooms, a clinical trials center, a simulation training suite, and core laboratories for the study of diabetes, obesity, cardiopulmonary disease, and neurology.

The University of Mississippi is planning to begin construction in fall of 2013 on a $35.5 million building in Jacksonville for the School of Medicine. The four-story, 138,000-sf facility will provide classrooms, laboratories, and offices. One floor of the building will house a simulation training center with mannequins and computers. Occupancy is expected in August of 2016.

The Sandler Neurosciences Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), is a developer-built facility created through innovative planning, development, design, and research. A public-private partnership—an alternative to the traditional design-bid-build model—applies private-sector efficiencies to an institutional project. Benefits include faster delivery, lower costs to build and operate, and reducing institutional risk by shifting responsibility for construction and ongoing maintenance to the developer.

North Middlesex University Hospital (NMUH) will open the two-story, 84,000-sf Women & Children’s Centre in London in November of 2013. The project is being delivered using the ProCure 21+ framework, with the building components being prefabricated in York by modular construction specialist Yorkon working in collaboration with main contractor Kier Construction. The facility will include 152 steel-framed modules with pre-installed utilities, doors, windows, and floors. The architect and project manager is AHP.

Deakin University is partnering with Epworth Health to build the Epworth Geelong Private Hospital in Victoria, Australia. The $277 million facility will provide 262 inpatient beds, 20 emergency beds, and 12 intensive care beds. The first phase of construction is slated for completion in June of 2016.

Getting the planning team on board with Lean project delivery from the outset of a project can net huge savings in both capital expenditures and long-term operating costs. A California hospital, for example, saved $700,000 and 550 sf per bed, and the project was completed 25 percent ahead of schedule, a level of efficiency that can be achieved in other industries, as well.

The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Medicine is building the $426 million Gleneagles Hospital in Wong Chuk Hang. The 503,000-sf facility will provide comprehensive clinical care including oncology, cardiology, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, and pediatrics. The 500-bed hospital will also house operating rooms, outpatient care clinics, imaging suites, and a cardiovascular laboratory. Completion is expected in late 2016 with occupancy in 2017.