The topping out of the first phase of a clinical expansion of Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Braselton was celebrated in November by both the hospital and the contractor, New York-based Turner Construction Co.
The vertical expansion is being built on a patient tower originally built by Turner in 2014.
The construction is part of a two-phase project in Braselton, northeast of Atlanta, with the initial work adding 150,000 sq. ft. of added support and clinical space to the hospital. Included in that space are two patient care floors and 48 additional critical-care beds that will increase the facility's total beds to 240. When Phase 1 is completed, according to Turner, the patient tower will encompass eight floors and include a second helipad onsite.
"The unique thing about working in health care construction is we really get to be part of the community and build something that has a real, meaningful impact on that community," said Justin Gentzke, a senior project manager of Turner Construction, which has a satellite office in Atlanta.
"This project will add patient care beds that will help expand the services Northeast Georgia Health System [NGHS] offers in this community."
The first phase of work is expected to be completed in mid-2025.
Construction on Phase 2 is slated to get under way next spring and consist of a 250,000-sq.-ft. expansion of the hospital's current Emergency, Central Sterile and Surgical Services departments as well as a lab and pharmacy.
Hospital Campus Delivered Via Innovative Approaches
Before the Braselton facility expansion began, NGHS challenged Turner to develop innovative approaches and achieve results through the most economical means, which led the contracting team to earmark $3.5 million of the budget for innovative items. Based on LEED healthcare points, this list included over 100 items that were analyzed on multiple levels, giving priority to NGHS, cost, return on investment and project design impacts.
As a result, Turner used 96 prefabricated elements for patient room bathroom pods and headwalls to control quality and reduce the schedule by one month.
In addition, the project included a geothermal ground source heat pump system in lieu of a legacy Central Energy Plant as part of the mechanical system. Turner drilled 500-ft. geothermal wells outside the project's expansion areas that circulate water to create renewable energy to heat and cool the hospital.
According to Turner, these innovative sustainability practices are just a few implemented at the Braselton hospital, enabling the NGMC project to be completed two months ahead of schedule and to carry the distinction of being the first medical center in Georgia to achieve Gold Level LEED Healthcare Certification.
Until the current expansion project, the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Braselton included a three-story, 218,000-sq.-ft. hospital and an adjacent 125,000-sq.-ft., five-story medical office building located on a 119-acre greenfield site north of Interstate 85.
Dressed in an exterior of stone, metal panels, stucco and punched windows, the facility currently includes 100 private patient rooms, along with imaging, diagnostics, emergency, orthopedics, heart and vascular, surgical, neuroscience and cancer treatment departments.
The medical building, which houses approximately 35,000 sq. ft. of interior space and includes imaging suites, procedure rooms and catheter labs, was built concurrently and connected to the main hospital building.
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