News Release: Hammes Co. delivers next phase of renovated campus on time, under budget

Various renovations and expansions will allow Cone Health in Greensboro, N.C., to serve its communities for decades to come from its existing campus

BROOKFIELD, Wis., and Greensboro, N.C., Sept. 24, 2014 – Last month, Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital opened the next phase of its vast campus transformation project with the successful completion of a significant clinical renovation.
The major development and new patient bed tower opened last year as part of the greater 50-acre phased site redevelopment for leading regional health system, Cone Health, in Greensboro. The 230,000-square-foot expansion encompassed a full replacement of the surgical suite, 16 operating rooms, loading dock and a new six-story patient tower with 96 private beds. The emergency department capacity was extended to 79 treatment areas, including 17 allocated to pediatric emergency care, to accommodate the growing patient volumes within Guilford County’s robust market area.

“Working through this complex expansion and renovation on our historic campus has allowed us to fully realize both our strategic and project goals originally conceived in 2008,” says Cone Health Director, Facilities Projects Administration and Construction Management, Ron Galloway, PE, CHFM.

“We were focused on achieving patient privacy, enhanced emergency care, augmented specialty services and improved flow for both our patients and staff. Hammes Company proved to be an invaluable member of our collaborative team as we worked through the process. This project opened on time, under budget and preserved the owner contingency.”

The tower was designed to be Silver Level LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified under the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) regulations, making it one of a handful of LEED-certified healthcare facilities in the state. In addition to sustainable design features, a solar hot water system and locally sourced building materials, the patient tower was the first healthcare facility in the state to heat and cool patient rooms with active chilled beams – an advanced system designed to heat and cool buildings at the point of use with chilled and hot water coils and low-pressure air to induce circulation and air changes within the space. According to mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) engineering firm, Affiliated Engineers, Inc., the active chilled beams on the three patient floors are projected to provide at least a 40 percent energy savings over a typical variable air volume heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system serving the same area.

“The tower has been open for just under a year so far and we are pleased with our performance metrics achieved to this point,” explains Karen Kendall, campus projects director for Cone Health. “Within the private patient rooms inside our North Tower, patient satisfaction with their accommodations has reached 99 percent for several months in a row.”

The subsequent phase opened last month and includes 96,000 square feet of renovated space to the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), admitting, pre-admission testing, CT imaging suite, 47 surgical pre-post-stay private patient rooms, and the grand entrance which connects the previously expanded space with the existing facility and new and former entrances, providing a clear directive for all patients, staff and visitors.

Cone Health is a not-for-profit health system which was formed in 1953. Its vast network consists of six acute-care hospitals, a cancer center, two ambulatory care centers, a freestanding emergency department facility and over 100 outpatient delivery sites. Cone Health treats over 57,000 patients within its hospitals and almost 700,000 patients within its convenient and accessible outpatient locations.

Hammes Company first worked with Cone Health back in 2005 when the system sought to enhance its ambulatory delivery network and cited the consulting firm’s primary focus on healthcare as one of many reasons it was selected. With recommendations provided by Hammes Company to focus on new markets in neighboring High Point and Kernersville, N.C., Cone Health selected the firm to serve as project manager on the two new ambulatory care centers. Since that time, Hammes Company has partnered with the health system on a number of initiatives across the system, including strategic planning for neighboring Behavioral Health Hospital and Women’s Hospital, an asset advisory inquiry to benefit its systemwide real estate portfolio and project management of the expansion of its emergency department and surgical short-stay at Wesley Long Community Hospital.

According to Nancy Connolly, a senior vice president with Hammes Company’s Washington, D.C., regional office, Cone Health is a market leader in Greensboro, and its campus is a massive hub of services for the community. “This campus revitalization has enabled Cone Health to remain on the same site for the next 50 years,” Ms. Connolly says. “This has been their largest expansion to date within their 60-year history providing exceptional care in Greensboro.”

Cone Health will move onto the final phases of its campus redevelopment with the opening of the expanded central energy plant (CEP) later this year, which includes chillers, cooling towers, generators and other facility infrastructure systems. The current building will be demolished once CEP expansion is completed. Using the CEP as a springboard, Cone Health’s leadership will have updated and replaced a large portion of all infrastructure systems across the entire campus upon completion, including untouched areas of the campus. Other final renovations to endoscopy, the MRI suite and the grand stairway and corridor will be complete in early 2015.

“This was a complicated project due to the significant enabling work and temporary construction and demolition executed just outside of the hospital’s very busy emergency and surgical departments,” says Ken Blankenship, project executive with Hammes Company. “The project’s success is a testament to Cone Health’s strategic foresight and the integrated project team’s persistent communication and collaboration behind the scenes.”

In addition to Hammes Company, the project team included architect Perkins + Will, Charlotte, North Carolina, engineer Affiliated Engineers, Inc., Chapel Hill, North Carolina and general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie, Raleigh, North Carolina and civil engineer and landscape architect Stimmel Associates, PA, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

 About Cone Health

Cone Health is a not-for-profit network of healthcare providers serving people in Guilford, Forsyth, Rockingham, Alamance, Randolph, Caswell and surrounding counties. Our tagline – “The Network for Exceptional Care” – highlights our commitment to excellence, which is shared by our more than 10,000 employees, 1,300 physicians and 1200 volunteers. As one of the region’s largest and most comprehensive health networks, Cone Health has more than 100 locations, including six hospitals, two medical centers, four urgent care centers, 95 physician practice sites and multiple centers of excellence. These include primary and specialty care through LeBauer HealthCare, Triad HealthCare Network and other Cone Health-affiliated physicians.

About Hammes Company

Hammes Company is comprised of a team of accomplished professionals with deep industry and functional expertise. The company assists a full spectrum of healthcare clients by advising, implementing and managing key strategies and solutions that build high-performing organizations. Hammes Company is recognized by leading healthcare providers and industry insiders as one of the most trusted providers of consulting services in the United States. The company currently serves health systems, hospitals, physician groups and payers. Hammes Company is headquartered in Brookfield, Wis. and provides services through a network of regional offices strategically located across the country. For more information, please visit www.hammesco.com.