Heery Awarded Two Air Force Health Care Facility Contracts

ATLANTA — With a combined value of $90 million, Atlanta-headquartered Heery International has been selected to renovate and construct two health care facilities at the Seymour Johnson and Robins Air Force bases. The design-build team is currently in the design phase for a new 107,000 square-foot medical clinic at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, N.C., while the Robins Air Force Base project in Macon, Ga., requires the phased renovation of Building 700. Healthcare Construction + Operations spoke with Mike Tomy, vice president with Heery International, about the two projects and Heery’s plans for dual success.

Q: Why were renovations needed at these two bases?

Tomy: DOD (Department of Defense) health care has been evolving to a great degree over the past decade based on U.S. force commitment to new theaters of operation and our returning servicemen. There has also been a parallel emphasis based on our aging and retired service personnel. There has been a decision made that the existing health care facilities as well as replacement facilities need to be state-of-the-art in order to properly care for our service community. More specifically as it relates to these projects, Heery International’s integrated design-build team was hired to replace a 50-year old health care facility for Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina and to fully renovate the health care facility at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. Both existing clinics were very dated and needed major improvements to meet the bases’ as well as our stated national health care needs.

Q: What kind of renovations/updates is most sorely needed in the current facilities?

Tomy: Both clinics needed major redesigns and construction upgrades to provide for all the new technologies that changed the health care landscape over the past generation. Heery also addressed the clinics’ overall layout to help make the departments’ functional relationships more flexible and efficient. We also created environmental designs to enhance the patient experience. On a more practical level, both facilities needed to be brought up to code, including ordinances to comply with building safety as well as for seismic requirements.

Q: What are some of the benefits and challenges in working with the U.S. Army? The project?

The greatest benefit is that the Army Corps of Engineers has a professional team that is familiar with construction, that is their job and business. The Corps has the staffing required to manage the project as the owner’s representative, to help guide and oversee the work done by the designers, constructors and multiple consultants.

The greatest challenge of the project is completing the work while allowing the medical professionals to continue its ongoing health care service for the bases. It is critical for the bases to continue providing medical care even while we are taking down buildings or bringing in temporary modular buildings. The other challenge is working on an active secured military base and maintaining all the necessary security protocols that are required for a project like this.

Q: Could you describe a few features that you believe are the most beneficial to your sustainable goals?

There are many sustainable features that we were required to meet to achieve LEED Silver certification. Examples include:
• A two-foot height reduction of the finish slab height of the Seymour Johnson medical clinic, reducing the impact of this new clinic on the neighboring buildings while providing an architecturally significant building to the Air Force base master plan:
• Seymour Johnson’s Vegetated Roof System, whose benefits include improved working life span of the underlying roof membrane system;
• Storm water retention/detention that provides lower operating fees for water

At Robins we added additional natural light to the new public corridors through vertical glazing and skylight systems, enriching the patient and staff experiences of the building with increased daylight.

Q: How do these sustainable features assist in the healing process?

Tomy: Heery used Evidence-based Design (EBD) to create a healing environment – one that is safe, comfortable, and that supports the patient and reducing the stress experienced by patients and the teams caring for them.

Heery’s design contains design solutions that are in line with EBD recommendations. For example, physical therapy’s entrance at Seymour Johnson reduces the travel distance that may be required of mobility-impaired patients. This orientation allows the PT department to take full advantage of the healing effects of natural light and views.

The light well will be utilized as an extension of the exercise area with the incorporation of a climbing wall, a therapeutic stair, and other possible modalities.

Heery also designed walled rooms for examination and treatment spaces rather than open-plan rooms with curtains that divide separate patient spaces to improve patient privacy and confidentiality. This included individual screening and exam rooms are permanent drywall partition walled rooms.

Heery maximized natural light throughout the building to decrease patient stress and reduce staff fatigue by designing windows and glazing systems that provide natural light for the main public corridor and offices/exam rooms located on the perimeter.

Q: How will this project benefit from the integrated project design methodology?

Tomy: Heery, along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Little Rock, Ark., helped pioneer an innovative and comprehensive approach to health care renovations for the Air Force across the United States.

This $800 million Multiple Award Task Order (MATOC) program, for which Heery was awarded almost $200 million, substantially reduced project delivery and set cost limitations that couldn’t be exceeded. It integrated all user groups and provided a seamless delivery method for the owner.

Integrated project design methodology creates an interactive environment that promotes creativity and innovation for all parties involved in the process.

Heery is a true integrated project delivery company; our health care design-build team develops solutions that are prepared with a level of integration that is quite unique to the industry.

The Heery team, both design and construction is located in the same office, on the same floor and in the same team studio, creates a truly interactive environment that promotes creativity and innovation.

Additionally, Initial Outfitting and Transition planning is used to ensure that the building occupants have everything they need from the day they move in. For example, for ambulatory clinics like these, not only is the furniture, furnishing and medical equipment in place on day one, but so are rubber gloves, tongue depressors, and sterile medical instruments.