Academic Medical

UConn Health Center is building a $203 million outpatient care pavilion in Farmington, Conn. The eight-story, 300,000-sf facility will provide consolidated ambulatory care services to maximize patient convenience and will feature flexible, 120-sf exam rooms shared by different departments. The project will house the Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Comprehensive Spine Center, primary care, gastroenterology, ophthalmology, women's health, neurology, rheumatology, physical therapy, urology, surgery, and imaging.

Northwestern Medicine is planning to construct a replacement facility for Lake Forest Hospital in Illinois. Designed to provide flexible, patient-centered care, the 483,500-sf project will include 114 private inpatient beds, 72 outpatient care rooms, eight surgical suites, and an imaging center. LEED Silver sustainable design certification will be sought for the facility, which is slated for completion in mid-2017.

The University of Tampere began construction in June of 2014 on a $64 million medical teaching and research building in Finland. The 273,400-sf project is being built by NCC Construction and will provide instructional space, teaching and research labs, and administrative offices. Completion is expected in May of 2016.

Bristol Community College broke ground on the $27 million Sbrega Health and Science Building in May of 2014 in Fall River, Mass. Designed by Sasaki Associates, the 46,000-sf collaborative facility will accommodate programs in biology, biotechnology, chemistry, clinical laboratory science, dental hygiene, environmental science, medical technology, microbiology, and nursing. The building will include classrooms, teaching labs, offices, and an atrium. The construction manager for the project is BOND.

Arkansas Tech University will begin construction in October of 2014 on a 20,273-sf allied health building on the Ozark campus. Supported by $6 million in revenue bond funding, the two-story facility will provide technology-rich teaching labs and clinical simulation suites as well as faculty and staff offices, three computer labs, and a testing center. Completion is expected in November of 2015 with occupancy in spring of 2016.

Memorial Herman Hospital will begin construction in summer of 2014 on a $650 million expansion of its Houston facility. The project includes the addition of 24 operating rooms, 16 emergency bays, 160 inpatient beds, parking, and a café. Six floors of shell space will be built to accommodate future growth. Completion is expected by 2018. Memorial Herman is the primary teaching hospital for the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Medical School.

Panola College broke ground on the $35 million W.C. Smith Health Science Center in May of 2014 in Carthage, Texas. The 76,000-sf facility will provide science classrooms, a simulation training lab, a lecture hall, and teaching labs for programs in nursing, biology, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, and microbiology. Completion is expected in July of 2015.

University of Chicago Medicine is planning to build a $60 million health center in Orland Park, Ill. The four-story, 120,000-sf facility will provide orthopedic and radiation oncology services, as well as other medical specialties such as cardiology, gastroenterology, pediatrics, and women’s health. Occupancy is expected in 2016.

The Greenville Health System (GHS) is capitalizing on the combined strength of its long-standing commitment to education and its partnerships with regional universities to flip the model of the academic health center and create a “clinical university.”

The Karolinska Institute is planning the second phase of construction at the Medical Research Laboratory in Solna, Sweden. Project developer Akademiska Hus AB has awarded Skanska a $61 million contract to construct a nine-story, 183,000-sf interdisciplinary research building. The first phase of construction at the Biomedicum campus is a $190 million, 678,000-sf facility, which is also being built by Skanska with completion slated for 2018.

University College London Hospital is planning to build a $253 million cancer treatment facility in London. Providing advanced radiotherapy for the treatment of tumors, the 360,000-sf Proton Beam Therapy Centre will include an inpatient hospital and technology-rich surgical suites. The design team includes Jones Lang LaSalle, Scott Tallon Walker, and Edward Williams Architects. Completion is expected in 2018.

Froedert Health and the Medical College of Wisconsin are building the Center for Advanced Care in Wauwatosa, Wis. The eight-story teaching hospital will enable Froedert to consolidate all surgical procedures in a single location and will house the Heart and Vascular Center, the Transplant Center, and Preoperative Outpatient Management. The facility will also provide simulation suites, anatomy labs, and team-based learning areas. The project is being built with three floors of shell space to accommodate future growth and a mechanical level.

The University of North Dakota began site work in April of 2014 on a $124 million facility for the School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Grand Forks, N.D. The 320,000-gsf building was designed by JLG Architects working in collaboration with Perkins+Will and Steinberg Architects. Located on an 8.3-acre site, the footprint of the four-story medical school is 78,000 sf.

The kind of technology prevalent in today’s health sciences education requires a robust infrastructure that must be figured into a facility’s design during the budgeting and planning stages. Virtual simulation, virtual anatomy, tablet computers, 3-D stereographic display, software tools for collaboration, and touch interaction with LCD monitors—even the tried-and-true classroom technology, such as whiteboards, videoconferencing, telephone conferencing, dual-image large screen projection, large screen LCD monitors, and connectivity for personal devices—all require thoughtful consideration.

Cubresa introduced a compact, affordable SPECT scanner for preclinical research in early 2014. The scanner attaches to existing small animal CT systems, transforming them into multi-modality molecular imaging systems for disease study, translational research, and drug discovery applications. The product features a slim bore which positions the imaging detectors close to the animal subject, optimizing spatial resolution. Advanced detector technology improves sensitivity to balance radiation dose with accelerated study throughput.