As building owners, construction industry leaders and facility designers alike take inventory of lessons learned over the past year, there’s no doubt that priorities in healthcare design and construction processes will change.
According to Consigli Construction’s latest Market Outlook Report (published March 2021), 71% of surveyed subcontractors and suppliers reported they had seen an increase in requests for design-assist proposals, which Building Design + Construction (BD+C) notes is “a strong sign that speed-to-market is a priority.”
With speed-to-market becoming increasingly important across the board, BD+C also observes that, “the survey’s respondents are also more receptive to cost-saving material management software, tool upgrades, and robotics that improve efficiency.”
Underscoring the importance of speed and efficiency in the future of healthcare design, a Construction Executive feature (published September 2020) titled “Health Care Construction in the Post-COVID Era” dedicates an entire sub-section to the concept of “build efficiency.” Construction Executive explains that “by collaborating with clients and leveraging technology, construction teams can overcome the hurdles brought by COVID-19 to build post-pandemic facilities in an even more safe and efficient manner.”
Healthcare has become one of SurePods’ fastest-growing market sectors over the past year for all the reasons mentioned above. Not to mention, bathroom construction typically requires the complex coordination of hiring and scheduling 8 – 12 construction trades, ranging from plumbing, electrical, painting, tiling and drywall.
To highlight the healthcare industry’s early adopters of SurePods’ modular prefab bathroom pods, we’re taking a look back at trend-leading projects with notable “firsts” for modular construction in this field. From the Western Rockies in Denver to the Gold Coast of South Florida, below are three healthcare projects featuring SurePods modular bathroom pods:
Wellington, FL
Opened in 2012, Wellington Regional Medical Center was the first SurePods project to receive AHCA (Agency for Health Care Administration) approval. Designed by HKS, the South Florida-based acute care hospital features 80 SurePods bathrooms.
Denver, CO
Over in the Rocky Mountains, Davis Partnership Architects & H+L Architecture enlisted SurePods to prefabricate 440 SurePods bathrooms for Exempla Saint Joseph Heritage, the very first healthcare project to feature modular bathroom pods on the Western side of the United States. The faith-based hospital opened in Colorado’s capital city of Denver in 2015.
Seattle, WA
TGB Architects and Skanska USA Building general contractors were the first to partner with SurePods on a “shell and core” building method; the team turned to SurePods early in the design and preconstruction phase to prefabricate bathrooms for Seattle’s Virginia Mason Medical Center. Opened in 2015, the non-profit hospital features 51 SurePods bathroom pods.
If you’re a construction industry pro working in the healthcare space, let’s talk. Contact us at [email protected].
