CHICAGO, Ill. – Hospitals in Missouri, Virginia and North Carolina are the recipients of this year’s Vista Awards, which will be presented March 20-23 at the 2016 International Summit & Exhibition on Health Facility Planning, Design & Construction in San Diego, California .
The awards, presented by the American Society for Healthcare Engineering, recognize the significance of collaboration in creating optimal healthcare environments. Each winning team has exemplified outstanding teamwork in all stages of their respective healthcare projects, from pre-planning to the final reveal.
The winners of the 2016 Vista Awards are SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Jefferson City, Missouri; VCU Health in Richmond, Virginia and CMC Pineville Energy Plant and Carolinas HealthCare System in Charlotte, North Carolina. The projects won in the categories of best new construction, renovation and infrastructure, respectively.
New Construction
SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital–Jefferson City
Jefferson City, Missouri
Architect: The Lawrence Group
Builder: Alberici
The team working on the SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital set out to build a facility that would support staff and physicians while exceeding expectations for safety, compassion and innovation. The new hospital includes a six-story inpatient tower, a four-story medical office building, a diagnostic center, emergency center, outpatient treatment center and other specialty clinics. During the course of the project, the team faced several challenges, including a project hold and hospital management turnover. Planning for transitions and communicating often helped minimize these challenges, and the team used Lean construction methodologies and a collaborative approach.
Renovation
Emergency department expansion and renovation at VCU Health
Richmond, Virginia
Architect: HKS
Builder: Barton Malow Co.
The renovation project at VCU Health’s emergency department encompassed more than 67,000 square feet of space on the ground floor of the main hospital. The project was completed in four major phases spanning five years. Two major challenges for the team included first, renovating the ED — operating 24 hours a day — with minimal disruption and second, maintaining at least 65 exam rooms available at all times. The team worked to build consensus with hospital and ED leaders on a phased plan that would meet those requirements. Midway through the project, hospital leadership requested a change in the phasing priorities that resulted in a more complex phasing plan and renovation work directly in the middle of the ED, splitting it in half. Through strong and effective communication, the team was able to meet this request, and the re-sequencing allowed the renovated imaging department to open almost a year ahead of schedule.
Infrastructure
Carolinas HealthCare System Pineville
Charlotte, North Carolina
Builder: Rodgers Builders Inc.
Architect: Wright McGraw Beyer Architects
Carolinas Medical Center Pineville expanded over the last 10 years to accommodate population growth in the Charlotte area, but the central energy plant in the middle of campus was undersized to support the additional square footage. Because of the central location of the plant, it could not be expanded, so the design team created a plan to replace the plant in the back of the campus.
The team faced several challenges stemming from the fact that there was no downtime for transitioning to the new plant since the existing plant was serving an operational hospital. The team established new normal power service for the hospital, working closely with the design team working on a patient tower. The design of the new plant allows for future expansions without interrupting service.
For more information, visit www.ashe.org/vista.
