Ribbon Cutting Held for New $80M Cherokee Indian Hospital

A ribbon cutting was recently held for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ new $80-million, 150,000-square-foot hospital facility in North Carolina. The project was launched nearly two years ago using an Integrated Project Delivery agreement andpartnered the Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority with Design Strategies and Robins and Morton Construction Company, with CBRE Healthcare as the owner’s representative, to build the facility.

According to Tim McCurley, director of project management for CBRE Healthcare, using an IPD approach, Cherokee was able to realize $7 million worth of added value to the project and gain an additional two months from the original schedule. IPD also allowed the project team to beat the local participation goals set by the hospital, all of which could not be done with a traditional approach.

The facility was designed based on comments from community meetings, with input from cultural leaders and artists and with tribal leadership. The river walk floor design evokes the Cherokee tradition of “going to water” for healing and runs the length of the building. Throughout the river walk are flora and fauna elements interwoven with Cherokee traditions and stories. Evidence-Based Design was used in the details of the layout of patient rooms, natural light in all work areas, large work spaces for employees and healing art in all patient areas were the guiding principles of the design team.

The focal point of the building exterior is Maddie’s Basket —a design inspired by a white oak basket by Madina Wildcatt. The artwork is meant to enhance the monumental glass windows, which bring the environment into the building.

Project Team

• Owner – Cherokee Indian Hospital
• Project Manager – CBRE Healthcare
• Architect – Design Strategies
• Construction Managers – Robins and Morton
• Civil Engineer – Design Strategies
• Commissioning – Smith Seckman Reid, Inc. (SSR)
• Mechanical Electrical Plumbing – Design Strategies