Industry News

Project for Public Spaces (PPS) has collaborated with the U.S. General Services Administration to write and design a new book, Achieving Great Federal Public Spaces: A Property Manager’s Guide. This book is a valuable tool for federal and non-federal public building property managers seeking to evaluate and improve their lobbies, atriums, plazas, courtyards, and other public spaces.

NorthBay Healthcare has contracted Siemens Building Technologies to implement facilities improvements at its Fairfield and Vacaville, Calif., hospitals. Through energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits, NorthBay will save energy costs and improve staff and patient comfort. Upon completion, the two hospitals combined are guaranteed to save 2,765,634 kWh of electricity annually, equating to a substantial savings over the 10-year life of the performance-based contract.

The University of South Florida (USF) opened the $33 million South Tampa Center for Advanced Healthcare on Davis Islands in late summer of 2007. The 126,000-sf, seven-story medical office building provides a single location for a wide variety of medical services, replacing several existing outpatient clinics on Davis Islands. Housing 187 faculty offices, 94 exam rooms, a diagnostic imaging center, and a patient education center, the paperless facility will feature a $15 million electronic medical record system.

Franklin & Marshall College completed the Ann and Richard Barshinger Life Sciences and Philosophy Building in Lancaster, Pa., in August of 2007. The $49 million, 104,000-sf building houses classrooms, faculty and student research labs, teaching labs, faculty offices, a 125-seat lecture hall, a greenhouse, a commons room and garden, a vivarium, and a three-story atrium.

Emory University's Woodruff Health Sciences Center broke ground on the $365 million Emory Clinic in Atlanta on August 27, 2007. The five-story complex will house 470,000-sf of dedicated patient care space, outpatient services, offices, medical training, and parking. The flexible and efficient facility will accommodate clinical and translational research and treatment. Construction is slated to begin in 2008. When the facility is occupied in the summer of 2012, an existing Emory clinic will undergo a $30 million renovation to accommodate biomedical research.