Suffolk Construction recently joined Baystate Health in celebrating the opening of phase one of its expansion and facility-replacement project at Baystate Medical Center. Located in Springfield, Mass., the $296 million, 641,000-sf new clinical facility houses a heart and vascular center as well as critical-care and inpatient rooms designed in collaboration with patients and families. Suffolk has already begun work on phase two, a new Emergency Department, which will triple the size of Baystate’s existing emergency room, one of the busiest in the nation.
The new MassMutual Wing features the Davis Family Heart and Vascular Center, which includes six cross-functional surgical/endovascular suites. Representing the latest in patient-focused design, a new 20-room CARE (Cardiovascular Assessment, Recovery, and Evaluation) unit allows patients undergoing outpatient procedures to go from pre-op to discharge in the same room, with the same nursing team. The facility also consists of 96 private inpatient rooms and 32 cardiovascular critical-care rooms.
Suffolk provided preconstruction and construction management services for the project, which is part of a 15-year master plan for the hospital—the largest medical facility in Western Massachusetts. The project is predominantly new construction, including multiple tunnels and bridges, with tie-ins to two existing buildings. Of the new construction, approximately 40% remains as shell space for future development. Suffolk maintained vehicular and pedestrian traffic flow while relocating sidewalks, utilities, and the hospital’s main patient valet entrance. Permanent and temporary earth retention systems were required as the new building foundation was much lower than the existing adjacent buildings. The facility features its own central heating and cooling plant with three chillers, two cooling towers, and three boilers.
Using Building Information Modeling (BIM), Suffolk saved significant time and money on the project. The team is also working with Baystate Health to develop 6D facility maintenance options that will best suit the hospital’s needs in order to operate the building in the most efficient and economical ways possible. Suffolk adhered to the sustainable design principles of The Green Guide for Health Care and incorporated green elements, including a seven-story light well and green roof.
For more than three and a half years, Suffolk worked with Baystate Health to ensure that local workforce goals were achieved. The project created an average of 300 construction jobs, and seventy-seven percent of the total hours worked were by Springfield residents, people who live within 50 miles of Baystate’s Springfield campus, women, or minorities. BD+C
Related Stories
K-12 Schools | Apr 30, 2024
Fully electric Oregon elementary school aims for resilience with microgrid design
The River Grove Elementary School in Oregon was designed for net-zero carbon and resiliency to seismic events, storms, and wildfire. The roughly 82,000-sf school in a Portland suburb will feature a microgrid—a small-scale power grid that operates independently from the area’s electric grid.
AEC Tech | Apr 30, 2024
Lack of organizational readiness is biggest hurdle to artificial intelligence adoption
Managers of companies in the industrial sector, including construction, have bought the hype of artificial intelligence (AI) as a transformative technology, but their organizations are not ready to realize its promise, according to research from IFS, a global cloud enterprise software company. An IFS survey of 1,700 senior decision-makers found that 84% of executives anticipate massive organizational benefits from AI.
Codes and Standards | Apr 30, 2024
Updated document details methods of testing fenestration for exterior walls
The Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance (FGIA) updated a document serving a recommended practice for determining test methodology for laboratory and field testing of exterior wall systems. The document pertains to products covered by an AAMA standard such as curtain walls, storefronts, window walls, and sloped glazing. AAMA 501-24, Methods of Test for Exterior Walls was last updated in 2015.
MFPRO+ News | Apr 29, 2024
World’s largest 3D printer could create entire neighborhoods
The University of Maine recently unveiled the world’s largest 3D printer said to be able to create entire neighborhoods. The machine is four times larger than a preceding model that was first tested in 2019. The older model was used to create a 600 sf single-family home made of recyclable wood fiber and bio-resin materials.
K-12 Schools | Apr 29, 2024
Tomorrow's classrooms: Designing schools for the digital age
In a world where technology’s rapid pace has reshaped how we live, work, and communicate, it should be no surprise that it’s also changing the PreK-12 education landscape.
Adaptive Reuse | Apr 29, 2024
6 characteristics of a successful adaptive reuse conversion
In the continuous battle against housing shortages and the surplus of vacant buildings, developers are turning their attention to the viability of adaptive reuse for their properties.
AEC Innovators | Apr 26, 2024
National Institute of Building Sciences announces Building Innovation 2024 schedule
The National Institute of Building Sciences is hosting its annual Building Innovation conference, May 22-24 at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C. BI2024 brings together everyone who impacts the built environment: government agencies, contractors, the private sector, architects, scientists, and more.
Mass Timber | Apr 25, 2024
Bjarke Ingels Group designs a mass timber cube structure for the University of Kansas
Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and executive architect BNIM have unveiled their design for a new mass timber cube structure called the Makers’ KUbe for the University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design. A six-story, 50,000-sf building for learning and collaboration, the light-filled KUbe will house studio and teaching space, 3D-printing and robotic labs, and a ground-level cafe, all organized around a central core.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Apr 25, 2024
How pools can positively affect communities
Clark Nexsen senior architects Jennifer Heintz and Dorothea Schulz discuss how pools can create jobs, break down barriers, and create opportunities within communities.
Senior Living Design | Apr 24, 2024
Nation's largest Passive House senior living facility completed in Portland, Ore.
Construction of Parkview, a high-rise expansion of a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) in Portland, Ore., completed recently. The senior living facility is touted as the largest Passive House structure on the West Coast, and the largest Passive House senior living building in the country.