Williamson Health, a regional healthcare system based in Franklin, Tenn., with 30-plus locations nationwide, has built a reputation for women’s healthcare. This year alone, The Women’s Choice Award for Best Hospitals recognized Williamson Health for its women’s services, comprehensive breast care, mammograms, and obstetrics.
So it is, perhaps, fitting that a woman-led team from the general contractor JE Dunn Construction has been supervising a $200 million, 225,000-sf expansion and renovation of the system’s flagship Williamson Medical Center near Nashville. The project includes 31,932 sf of improvements, a 15-room Emergency Department addition, a six-story addition for patient rooms, and another six stories that are earmarked for future expansion. (The Franklin hospital is in one of the faster-growing counties in the U.S.)
Earlier this month, the hospital officially opened its new state-of-the-art postpartum wing, with 11 beds, and a newborn nursery. The hospital’s OB and NICU are being updated with renovated and expanded labor, delivery, and recovery rooms. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is being moved to its own secure wing.
This design-build project, which is scheduled for completion next year, is designed by ESa. Nashville Machine Service is its mechanical engineer, and Enterprise Solutions its electrical engineer. Once this project is finished, the hospital plans to renovate its existing buildings.
Empathetic communications
Williamson Medical Center is the first start-to-finish construction management project for Kennedy May, a superintendent who has been with JE Dunn for more than six years. On her team is senior project engineer Emily McCaw, a three-year JE Dunn veteran.
May tells BD+C that having a female management team running the build has been beneficial for communicating with the hospital staff, “who were a delight to work with.” The hospital has stayed open during the project, so May has had to coordinate shutdowns for roads, mechanical installations, and night work to install water tie-ins.
JE Dunn’s Healthcare Group is based in Nashville, and has had a relationship with the healthcare system spanning several years. May—whose grandfather was a healthcare superintendent for Hoar Construction—is based in Colorado, where her healthcare assignments have included several renovations for Swedish Medical Center in Englewood.
Related Stories
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 28, 2017
5 elements for a healthy medical lounge
When done right, medical staff lounges are an essential part of the healthcare workplace.
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 24, 2017
7 design elements for creating timeless pediatric health environments
A recently published report by Shepley Bulfinch presents pediatric healthcare environments as “incubators for hospital design innovation.”
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 23, 2017
The future of healthcare architecture: obstacles and opportunities abound
Our current political drama has made our healthcare clients view the future of their business environment in much the same way most of us approach the latest weather report, with skepticism, writes David H. Watkins, FAIA.
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 23, 2017
Demographics and consolidation drive demand for medical office buildings
In its first-ever report on this sector, CBRE provides detailed analyses of 30 markets.
Giants 400 | Aug 18, 2017
Life after Obamacare
Hospital systems are finding ways to get facilities built with a lot less money.
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 11, 2017
Healthcare's digital evolution
Healthcare exemplifies how technology innovations like digital connectivity and artificial intelligence are playing out in ordinary life.
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 9, 2017
3 things to know about the state of the healthcare industry
CRTKL’s Ray Brower talks design and technology trends and recaps his recent BisNow panel.
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 8, 2017
Kansas’ only medical school receives new 171,000-sf building
The building was designed to enhance the medical campus’ existing facilities, curriculum, and classrooms.
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 2, 2017
8 healthcare design lessons from shadowing a nurse
From the surprising number of “hunting and gathering” trips to the need for quiet spaces for phone calls, interior designer Carolyn Fleetwood Blake shares her takeaways from a day shadowing a nurse.
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 2, 2017
The Patient-Centered Care Learning Center will help address the shortage of doctors in Missouri and the U.S.
The new BNIM-designed facility brings almost 100,000 sf of space for patient-centered care and classrooms.