Together, Skanska and Gates will construct a 366,000-square-foot addition to the existing medical center as well as renovate a roughly 48,000-square-foot section. The project will add three new levels as well as horizontal expansions, and will include a new 1,300-space parking structure. When complete, the facility will have 275 new beds, almost doubling its existing 349-bed capacity, bringing the center’s new capacity to 624 beds.

Dallas-based HKS Architects has been in design on the expansion and renovation for nearly a year. The team began the design process by working with a variety of hospital staff and stakeholders to ensure the facility fits the needs of all employees and users.

The health system has experienced a sharp increase in patient volume in recent years, prompting officials to seek expansion. While most years the hospital saw patient volume increase by less than 2 percent, recently hospital officials have reported a 9 percent increase in inpatient admissions as well as a 7 percent increase in ER visits. The uptick forced system officials to convert some offices and meeting rooms into temporary patient spaces during particularly high-volume months.

Speaking with the Naples News in August 2015 just as the project was entering the design phase, Josh DeTillo, chief administrative officer for the Gulf Coast Medical Center, noted that the large population of aging baby boomers as well as a rise in the area’s general population motivated system officials to pursue the expansion.

Construction is slated to begin by the end of the month and the team aims for a February 2021 completion. The project’s total cost is estimated at $315 million.
 

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The $71 million acute-care medical center, the first in Pearland, is located on a 48-acre site, and its 144,000 square feet houses 33patient beds. The medical center was built to expand patient services in Pearland and its surrounding communities. Hospital officials at Houston-based HCA Gulf Coast Division wanted to boost services in the obstetrical, surgical and cardiac areas.

The new medical center features new surgical suites, medical/surgical beds, intensive care beds and a 24-hour emergency department. It also includes imaging services such as magnetic resonance imaging, computerized tomography, a catheterization lab, echocardiogram testing and nuclear medicine modalities. A new women’s services department provides digital mammography, labor and delivery suites, C-section operating rooms and a newborn nursery.

Nashville, Tenn.-based Gould Turner Group served as the project’s architect and Skanska, based in Sweden, oversaw the construction.

“For many reasons, the ribbon-cutting will mark a major milestone for Pearland,” said Kevin Fuller, chairman of the Pearland Medical Center Board of Trustees, in a statement. “Not only will Pearland Medical Center provide quality, life-saving services; it will create jobs and economic opportunities to benefit our residents.”

Pearland is the fastest-growing community in the Houston area. The city’s population was projected to increase from 91,252 in 2010 to 123,119 in 2020 and to 141,993 in 2035, according to the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s 2013 Population and Employment Forecast. The medical center will employ about 250 full-time staff members and more than 150 physicians.

HCA-affiliated facilities in the Gulf Coast Division include 12 hospitals, eight ambulatory surgery centers, 14 diagnostic imaging facilities, eight off-campus emergency centers and a regional transfer center. The HCA Gulf Coast Division will be offering a regional transfer center that provides ground and air transportation to and from any other HCA Gulf Coast Division-affiliated hospital. That service includes transfers to specialized facilities such as Clear Lake Regional Medical Center in Webster, Texas; Houston-based Woman’s Hospital of Texas; and Houston-based Texas Orthopedic Hospital.

HCA — the parent organization for HCA Gulf Coast — is striving for sustainability in Pearland, as well as its other facility currently being built: Alliance Hospital in Dallas, which is managed by HCA North Texas. Alliance Hospital in Dallas is a three-story, $71 million hospital that is expected to open in early 2015.

Both facilities will be seeking LEED Silver certification. Fixtures in both facilities will decrease water usage by 40 percent; 95percent of construction waste will be diverted away from landfills; and wood materials used to build both facilities will all be from certified sustainable resources.

“Hospitals are an essential part of a community. They help save and improve lives, but in order for them to keep operating and providing the services their community needs, hospitals require a lot of energy which can have negative impacts on the environment,” said Greg Stein, HCA’s VP of design and construction, in a statement.

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Skanska USA, a subsidiary of Skanska AB of Stockholm, has a health care portfolio that includes Holland Hospital and Detroit Medical Center. Skanska USA is partnering with Jenkins on a $59 million cardiac facility at the Detroit center. In Midland, Mich., the company will additionally perform a $115 million retrofit of the MidMichigan Medical Center.

Following the November election, Quirk predicted that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) will assist hospital construction and expansion. “Some projects will be released in 2013 for sure, probably by the second quarter at least,” Quirk stated.

“[Hospital CEOs] are moving to more of the outpatient model,” Quirk said of executives he has spoken to since the passage of PPACA in early 2010. This move entails alteration of a health care model from a reactive to a proactive method — effectively preventively treating a patient before their condition worsens to the point of hospital admission. Quirk believed the outpatient focus will translate into medical facilities being more all-encompassing.

Quirk stated that medical facilities have been tightening up their belts given the tremendous uncertainty over PPACA since 2010. However, “the momentum is growing to either build outpatient facilities or renovate existing hospital space.” This includes renovating ERs to, as Quirk puts it, “make them more efficient.”

With an expected 30 million-plus people to come under the health care system in the next year, hospitals are making floors more efficient for seeing patients instead of adding new beds to the system, according to Quirk.

Quirk also said that the trend of seeing more private patient rooms in newer hospitals will not abate “until almost every hospital bed in the U.S. is [private].” He stated that the industry accepts the premise that single-patient rooms evoke better care outcome than rooms that are not entirely private or shared with other patients.

“I think it’s also linked to the Affordable Care Act, where you’re responsible for the care outcome,” Quirk added.

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Skanska, based in New York City, provides construction management, preconstruction and design-build services to acute care hospitals, specialty outpatient centers and academic medical centers throughout the U.S.

The alliance with Cedar Falls, Iowa-based Prime Logic Partners was created to enhance Skanska’s ability to help health care organizations their investments in IT infrastructure, according to a statement from Skanska.

Prime Logic Partners provides health care organizations with IT infrastructure consulting and services to the health care industry. Together, the companies have developed a customized modular data center approach for health care providers that incorporates capacity, density and security innovations.

The modular data, built to specifications offsite and shipped to the location, allows for faster deployment, scale capacity as needed and lowered total cost of ownership, according to the company.

“Innovation and value are clear necessities to help navigate today’s changing health care landscape,” said Skanska Senior Vice President Andrew Quirk, who leads the company’s Healthcare Center of Excellence. “As the industry becomes more complex, we are partnering with our clients to develop solutions that positively impact their overall margins, energy efficiency, and sustainable practices in a measurable way.”

Mark Stewart, partner with Prime Logic Partners, said resilient IT infrastructure is necessary given the implementation of electronic health records.

“We see health care regulations taking a similar path as the financial services industry and increasing the levels of security and risk mitigation required by the provider,” Stewart said.

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