Shands Cancer Hospital First In Southeast To Receive Gold Leed Certification

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — June 7 — Shands HealthCare has turned a green initiative into gold.

Shands officials learned today that the Shands Cancer Hospital at the University of Florida has become the first hospital in the Southeast to be awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for its environmental and energy-efficient features. Only four hospitals in the country currently are Gold LEED certified and fewer than 100 nationwide have LEED certification.

“LEED Certification symbolizes our vision and commitment in constructing a state-of-the-art, sustainable healthcare facility,” said Tim Goldfarb, Shands HealthCare CEO. “Together, our outstanding design and construction teams focused on progressive, energy-saving practices and developed creative, forward-thinking solutions to energy challenges.”

LEED is an internationally recognized, third-party certification program for buildings that achieve the highest green building and performance measures. Buildings earn Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum ratings based on sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. Certification criteria for healthcare facilities also include increased sensitivity to chemicals and pollutants, traveling distances from parking facilities and access to natural spaces.

An expansion of the Shands at UF academic medical center in Gainesville, the $388-million, 500,000-square-foot Shands Cancer Hospital opened Nov. 1 last year to provide cancer and other acute-care services for patients from throughout the region. Flad Architects designed and general contractor Skanska built the new facility, which also houses Shands Critical Care Center, a Level 1 Trauma Center and emergency room.

“We wanted to design a highly efficient building,” said Brad Pollitt, Shands HealthCare Facilities vice president, who led the 3.5-year design and construction initiative. “We wanted to do whatever we could do to minimize our environmental impact, and we just capitalized on our efforts.”

Sustainability focused features of the project included a demolition waste-management process that recycled 96 percent (by weight) of the materials from an existing hotel and parking structure cleared from the site.

The team used low VOC-emitting adhesives, sealants, paints, wood products and carpet systems throughout the interior to maintain a high-quality indoor air environment. They also incorporated specific building orientation; solar shading; high-performance glass; and energy transfer wheels, sensors and controls to optimize energy performance. In a number of areas the hospital’s design exceeds LEED requirements.

The project’s most significant sustainability feature is Gainesville Regional Utility’s South Energy Center, an onsite, stand-alone, 4.3-megawatt facility that supplies all of the hospital’s energy needs independent of the city’s energy grid.

Designed and built by Burns and McDonnell under contract with GRU, the South Energy Center is one of a very few combined heat and power plants in the Southeast. The new center promises both enhanced energy efficiency and reduced emissions with a projected 46 percent savings over traditional fossil-burning generation. The level of efficiency is achieved, in part, by capturing the hot exhaust from the turbine and using it to produce steam that is then used to run the hospital’s heating and cooling systems. The projected annual energy savings equal the power needed to run more than 3,000 homes. Power outages on the city’s regular grid will not affect hospital operations.

“By combining new technologies with an innovative approach to delivering services, we have been able to dramatically improve both reliability and energy efficiency compared to traditional ways of generating and distributing electricity,” said Bob Hunzinger, GRU general manager. “We are proud to partner with Shands HealthCare on this unique project that will benefit our community and the surrounding region.”

The partnership also helped propel Shands into LEED Gold Certification territory.

“Gold Certification brings us national attention, and I think it is an extra feather in our cap,” Pollitt said. “Yet, it was somewhat easy. We always focus on outstanding care and service to our patients and the community. When you set the bar high and have high expectations, then people start performing.”