BLOOMINGDALE, Ill.—In a first for Northwestern Medicine, the renovation of a medical office building (MOB) in Bloomingdale, features prefabricated modular exam rooms. More than 70 exam rooms are being built as pods off-site in an assembly-line fashion and delivered nearly complete to the medical office building construction site, where they are slid into place for final connections.

The project is a complete renovation of over 50,000 square feet in an existing building at 231-235 S. Gary Avenue. The space will house a Northwestern Medicine Immediate Care, Physical Therapy and Diagnostic Imaging; as well as Northwestern Medicine Regional Medical Group specialties, including Primary Care, Cardiology, Endocrinology, Orthopedics and Gastroenterology. Cannon Design is the architect of record. Walsh Construction is the General Contractor.

The 70+ exam rooms are being mass produced in an assembly line at the Hill Mechanical shop in Franklin Park, Illinois, in conjunction with Walsh Construction. The pods are 95% completed at the off-site shop with drywall, insulation, ceiling tiles, cabinets, sinks, electrical wiring and plumbing. Nearly all the finishing touches are completed as well, including tile, paint, wallcovering, and millwork. Computer arms, blood pressure monitoring equipment, Sharps needle containers, and coat hooks are attached to the walls before delivery.

“The main advantage of modular pod construction is a more advantageous speed-to-market solution for project delivery, as well as the efficiency, safety and quality control of building in a controlled environment compared to a traditional construction setting,” said Dan Callaghan, CE, MBA, project manager, Planning & Construction, Northwestern Medicine.

The pods are delivered to the Bloomingdale building three at a time on a flat-bed truck, where a crane lifts them onto a loading dock. The pods are pushed into place using industrial dollies, and all electrical, plumbing and vents are connected. Once all are in place, exterior drywall and flooring is completed, along with a few final touches such as hanging doors.

The building of the modular units is happening at the same time as the on-site development work, which also speeds up the construction process. Callaghan estimates the project will be finished approximately four weeks faster compared to traditional construction, and if it wasn’t a phased project due to the need to continue offering medical services on the site during construction, the modular pods would have saved substantially more time.

While prefabricated modular units are more common in the hospitality industry, Northwestern Medicine Director of Planning & Construction Charles Cloutier says the process is gaining traction in the healthcare industry. One reason is the ability to standardize all the exam rooms.

“It is very helpful for medical providers to be able to walk into any exam room and know exactly where everything is, and what to expect,” said Cloutier. “Standardization also helps significantly with flexibility allowing different specialties to use the same exam rooms depending on volume, which makes our real estate footprints more efficient.”

Phase one construction of the Bloomingdale Medical Office Building project will be completed in March of 2021 with the new Immediate Care opening. Phase two construction will be completed in October 2021, with the remainder of the building taking occupancy.

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LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The new Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital has been a long-time coming, and the fruits of the labors of the design and construction team are finally realized. After eight years of planning, a ceremonial ribbon cutting took place on Feb. 12, and the citizens and staff of Lake Forest could not be happier.

The new Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital will officially open on March 3. Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, based out of New Haven, Conn., and the Chicago-based Gensler health and wellness firm collaborated on the design of the replacement facility. Turner Construction, headquartered in New York, was the general contractor on the project.

The project was officially approved by the city of Lake Forest in January 2014, broke ground the same year, with excavation work beginning in February 2015. The project had a budget of almost $400 million, according to an article in The Chicago Tribune.

The new 500,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art hospital has five interconnected pavilions that will provide an integrated foundation for inpatient and ambulatory care, which includes 114 private inpatient rooms, 72 outpatient care spaces, eight operating rooms and 106 clinic examination rooms. The new facility also offers collaborative spaces for caregivers and staff, boasts a reduction in ambient noise and offers improved control over indoor lighting in patient, visitor and staff areas.

In addition, the campus includes 116 acres of open space, with more than 7,000 feet of pedestrian and bicycle paths, nearly 700 new trees and a six-acre pond to support stormwater retention and reduce area flooding.

The design team specially designed the hospital for physicians and staff to take advantage of the resources of an integrated academic health system. For example, seamless access to the Northwestern Memorial Hospital will be available to the facility, and video conferencing for staff and real time video sharing in the operating rooms are available to enhance collaboration and care for patients.

“The legacy Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital served our community well for over 75 years,” said Thomas J. McAfee, president of Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital, in a recent statement. “Our new hospital and outpatient pavilions are now state-of-the-art and complement the surrounding landscape. And, we are honored to provide the community with a leading destination for health and wellness, while offering cutting-edge technology in a comfortable, beautiful and healing environment.”

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