Skanska USA announced that it has achieved the “topping out” milestone at the University of Virginia Medical Center located in Charlottesville, VA. The expansion and renovation project will produce a 440,000-square foot, multi-level expansion, including a major addition to the facility’s Emergency Department, as well as 90,000 square feet of phased renovation work.

The milestone was commemorated by the signing of two special elevator divider beams. Each was decorated with University of Virginia logos and one was signed by representatives of the University and the other by workers on the project.

“The topping-out milestone demonstrates the significant progress we have made on this important project,” said Greg Peele, executive vice president/general manager who heads up Skanska’s building construction operations in Virginia and North Carolina. “We are moving closer to our final goal of providing a facility that will offer state-of-the-art care for patients with complex health needs in the Charlottesville region.”

Workers also received special t-shirts featuring a rendering of the building at the event, which featured representatives from the University of Virginia, Skanska, the project architects Perkins + Will, and the engineering firm Walter P. Moore. Awards for safety were presented to winners from each trade involved in the project. So far, workers have recorded 614,200 hours on the job.   

The project will provide the first major renovation to the Emergency Department in years. The new department will have approximately 80 treatment rooms, all private, to better accommodate the increased demand and treat patients more efficiently and quickly. The expansion will add rooms dedicated to mental health services and a clinical decision-making unit to assess whether patients should be admitted, observed or discharged. New trauma rooms are also part of the expansion.

A six-story tower is being built on top of the expanded Emergency Department and interventional spaces, in order to accomplish a major goal of the project – to create more private patient rooms. Due to medical conditions requiring isolation or other care needs, patients cannot always share a room.

Three floors will provide 28 private rooms each, providing 84 rooms in all. To address the need for future growth, three floors of shell space were also constructed for future needs. A rooftop helipad will be added as well.

The expanded interventional services will serve patients who come for surgeries or other procedures, with new operating rooms, procedure spaces and expanded preparation, recovery and support spaces.

The Plinth and Tower portion of the hospital expansion is slated for completion in December 2020. The project entails a phased turnover approach allowing for transfer of services from existing sections of the hospital to the newly renovated areas without disruption in their availability. Skanska is also working to ensure that traffic flow and ambulance access to the hospital are not impacted during construction.

For more information, visit www.usa.skanska.com.