Phoenix firms Orcutt|Winslow and Kitchell have been selected to design and construct a new patient tower at Chandler Regional Medical Center, located in Chandler, Ariz. Site work on the five-story inpatient tower is set to begin this month, with vertical construction slated to start by November 2012.
With the addition of 96 new in-patient beds bringing the total number of beds up to 339, the medical center at the intersection of Dobson and Frye roads aims to experience fewer capacity restraints and enhance key services. “We are confident that this expansion will help meet the needs of the community by allowing us to develop new healthcare services and expand existing ones,” says Patty White, Chandler Regional Medical Center president and CEO, in a statement.
The $125-million project is expected to be complete by fall 2014 and have 200 workers at peak. The steel-framed expansion—skinned in EIFS, stone, masonry and glass—will include 32 intensive care and private cardiovascular intensive care rooms, 64 telemetry and medical-surgical beds and six additional operating suites.
The medical center’s existing emergency department will move into the new tower once it is completed, with the former space being renovated to become an observation unit and part of a new chapel and food service area, says Kitchell project manager Ryan Hook. A cafeteria in the basement of the existing structure will be remodeled and expanded in several phases during construction of the new tower.
Infrastructure improvements include a second helipad and central plant. An additional 275 parking spaces will be added above cast-in-place concrete retaining vaults.
To minimize patient disturbance in the existing center during construction, tie-in points on the third through fifth floors were designed not to impact patient rooms. Work on the tie-in points won’t occur until after most other work on the new tower has been completed. The new emergency department and operating suites will be completed and fully operational in the new tower prior to the start of renovations to the existing spaces on the first and second floors, Hook says. The new tower also includes new electrical and water service to prevent shutdowns in the existing hospital spaces.
Hook adds that the site logistics for traffic, pedestrians, construction truck routes and signage were reviewed and agreed upon among the multiple user groups at the hospital and construction team to enhance jobsite safety and reduce disturbance to patients and staff.
The patient tower follows a recently completed $10-million cardiovascular department expansion, also built by contractor Kitchell and architect Orcutt|Winslow. The expansion adds two cardiac catheterization laboratories, an additional nine-bed pre/post cardiac short stay unit and ancillary support infrastructure.
