Lowell, Mass. –– Lowell General Hospital recently held a dedication ceremony of its new Dahod Building at its main campus in Lowell, Mass. Hospital administrators, donors, city and government officials, and leaders from Gilbane Building Company, the project’s construction manager, and RTKL, the building architect, were all in attendance.
“While the new building is truly incredible – from the larger, more comfortable and private, healing spaces to leading-edge technology and soothing features – it represents more than just a new facility – it truly signals something much bigger,” said Normand Deschene, president and CEO of Lowell General Hospital. “This project has given us a wonderful opportunity to make a new promise to our community – a promise to deliver complete, connected care. We have focused on every step of our patients’ visits with us – from the time they arrive to the time they leave us.”
Faced with an acute need to modernize its facility, Lowell General Hospital worked with Gilbane and RTKL on a 200,000 SF, six-story patient tower, the first phase of which opened in August. Named in honor of the Dahod family, Shamim A. Dahod, M.D, a long-standing member of Lowell General’s medical staff, and her husband Ashraf Dahod, the six-story Dahod Building has helped transform Lowell General Hospital both inside and out.
The facility’s fast-tracked schedule and tight budget required a finely tuned management process from the start and Building Information Modeling helped keep everything on track. Gilbane’s safety procedures and experience working in tight occupied spaces were instrumental in the successful completion of the project.
The first floor features the emergency department and trauma center with 50 individual exam rooms, an ambulance entryway, patient waiting area and a triage unit. Facility upgrades include new systems for improved energy performance and telecommunication capabilities. The electrical services were expanded on the campus to support the tower’s power requirements and an emergency generator and switchgear have been added adjacent to the existing central utility plant.
The remainder of the building will open in phases, concluding with the new Emergency Department’s scheduled opening in December 2012. Upon completion, the state-of-the-art facility will provide increased physical space for outpatient services; two new 30-bed inpatient medical surgical units featuring private rooms; additional surgical suites; an expansion of birthing and maternity areas; Emergency Department treatment areas doubled in size; and the addition of an onsite helipad to support the hospital’s Level III Trauma Center.
