MaineGeneral Hospital Receives USGBC Certification for First LEED HC Gold Hospital in Northeast

The Integrated Project Delivery Team, consisting of owner, MaineGeneral Medical Center, joint-venture architectural firms SMRT and TRO/Jung Brannen, Inc. and joint-venture construction team of HP Cummings Construction Company/Robins & Morton recently completed MaineGeneral Alfond Center for Health in Augusta, Maine—a project that blazed a trail for future environmentally friendly structures.

The collaborative partnership approach allowed the IPD team to complete the new 644,000-square-foot hospital facility in 36 months from the start of the design, finishing design and construction a 10 months ahead of the original schedule. The hospital, which opened Nov. 9, 2013, is the first healthcare facility in Maine and the second in the nation to be built successfully to the new 2010 LEED Gold for Healthcare standards.

“As a healthcare organization, it is incredibly important to us that we provide a safe, healthy facility and that we set a standard for ensuring a healthy environment now and into the future,” said Chuck Hays, MaineGeneral Health president and CEO, in a news release. “We want to be responsible stewards of our community.”

“Our initial goal was to achieve Silver certification. But as we constantly looked for ways to improve efficiencies throughout the construction process, it became apparent that we would achieve enough points for the higher Gold certification,” Hays said.

Through the utilization of IPD and Lean principles, multiple engineering initiatives were introduced. Sustainable elements of the project include:

Energy

• Natural gas utilized instead of fuel oil, resulting in significant fuel savings annually.
• LED outside lighting and high-efficiency light fixtures throughout the facility.
• Interior lighting that turns on automatically when someone enters the room and turns off after a brief delay when the system senses the room is empty.

Water

• Rainwater collection and reuse to recycle stormwater used as process water.
• Reduction in water usage by minimizing the potable water requirements of the project’s medical equipment, building equipment and food waste systems.

Materials

• Low-maintenance sheet vinyl and rubber flooring eliminates need to wax the floors.
• Implemented an extensive recycling plan and successfully diverted over 80 percent of construction waste from local landfills.
• Special attention was given to using recycle-based materials and materials sourced within a 500-mile radius.

Air Quality

• The construction team implemented a detailed Construction Air Quality Management Plan to minimize harmful toxins or particles from the building, thus ensuring the health of workers and future occupants.
• Only low-emitting paints, coatings, sealants, adhesives and flooring systems were used for the project to minimize odors and toxins from entering the facility.

For more information on this project, visit http://robinsmortonipd.com.