Yale-New Haven receives LEED certification for Smilow Cancer Hospital

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded LEED certification to Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven in recognition of the hospital’s successful sustainable design and construction strategies.

“When planning for Smilow began in 2002, sustainable strategies, including LEED certification, were not easily attainable in healthcare facilities because of their high energy demands and other constraints,” said Marna P. Borgstrom, president and CEO, Yale-New Haven Hospital. “We are very pleased with this recognition knowing that Smilow Cancer Hospital is the largest healthcare facility in Connecticut to receive LEED certification.”

Designed by Shepley Bulfinch and completed in 2010, Smilow’s sustainable features include optimum circulation of natural light in its lobbies, corridors and waiting areas; use of occupancy sensors in non-patient spaces; pumps with variable speed drives and room pressure monitors to reduce power usage for enhanced air supply. In addition, reflective roofs, an exterior sun screen on the west façade, a high-efficiency unitized curtainwall system and a terra cotta rainscreen all work to reduce heat gain in the building. The facility also has upgraded air handling units, low-flow water fixtures, low-VOC paints and finishes, easy-to-clean solid surface finishes and epoxy paints in operating rooms to combat infections effectively.

“In addition construction crews were able to recycle 97.7 percent of construction waste while building Smilow,” added Borgstrom.

With 516,000-square-feet, Smilow has 14 floors, 168 private patient rooms, 12 operating rooms, radiation therapy and several integrated imaging technologies.

LEED certification is Smilow’s most recent environmental recognition. The Connecticut Green Building Council awarded Smilow a 2011 Award of Merit and the Connecticut Business Journal recognized Smilow with 2010 Green Business Award. The hospital’s seventh-floor healing garden received a 2010 Award of Merit from the Connecticut chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Shepley Bulfinch (shepleybulfinch.com) is a national leader in sustainable healthcare design, with two LEED-certified hospitals in New England: Smilow Cancer Hospital and Concord Hospital; and the new Sherman Hospital (Elgin, IL), with its 15-acre geothermal lake. The firm is ranked in the top 30 healthcare design firms by Modern Healthcare and among the country’s top 100 Green Design Firms by Engineering News-Record. Shepley Bulfinch has been a member of the US Green Building Council since 2002.

Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven (www.ynhh.org/smilow) is part of the nationally recognized Yale-New Haven Hospital, and is affiliated with Yale Cancer Center. Smilow, the most comprehensive cancer facility in New England, is a 14-story, 500,000-square-foot cancer hospital, which includes: 168 private inpatient rooms, outpatient multidisciplinary treatment centers, 12 operating rooms, infusion suites, diagnostic imaging services, a floor for children with cancer, a specialized women’s cancer center and diagnostic and therapeutic radiology services for children and adults. YNHH is accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a Magnet hospital, national confirmation that the nursing staff provides outstanding patient care.