By HFT Staff

Recent years have seen tremendous growth at University of Florida Health (UF Health). To respond to increasing needs, the organization recently expanded through the addition of the new Heart & Vascular and Neuromedicine Hospitals on the UF Health campus. 

“UF Health is committed to being the best academic health center in the Southeast and beyond,” says Patrick Spoden, the project’s architect and project manager at Flad & Associates. Combined, the two towers’ 540,000 square feet includes 15 operating rooms, 216 private rooms and an adjacent parking structure. 

Green Globes certification was a great fit for the organization’s goals, says John Chyz of AEI | Affiliated Engineers, who was the project’s lead sustainability consultant. 

“Green Globes is a nationally recognized framework with a robust rating system, and we used its quantifiable data to help guide the project’s sustainable strategies,” Chyz says. 

The process encouraged the team to push themselves in several areas. For example, while the contractor had a construction waste management plan, Green Globes criteria inspired them to find a drywall recycler for leftover drywall. 

“We also decided to specify fly ash content in our concrete mix designs for the building core and shell, which was partially driven by the life-cycle performance path in Green Globes,” Chyz says. 

The hospital’s award of Four Green Globes attests to the success of UF Health and the team’s efforts, and the project boasts many intelligent solutions: 

• An extensive green roof area helps mitigate storm runoff. 
• A municipally reclaimed water source is used for all irrigation and supplements cooling tower make-up water. 
• A closed loop chilled water system cools the sterilizer equipment, resulting huge process-water savings. 
• In-depth acoustic studies led to a sound masking system that reduced the need for full-height gypsum walls in certain areas. 
• A combined heat and power system provides power and hot water for the hospital, and the building equipment runs on high-efficiency motors and variable frequency drives. 

According to Chyz, the Green Globes Assessor delivered insightful feedback to the project. During the Stage I Assessment, the assessor assisted the team through the energy-modeling process to ensure the team properly modeled and accounted for the combined heat and power system. The assessor also encouraged the team to explore the CO2 Equivalent Emissions path in the energy performance criteria, which helped raise its Green Globes standing. 

“Our assessor truly understood the complexities involved in healthcare projects,” Chyz says. “Having the opportunity to share a dialog with an expert in our industry and draw upon him as a resource to get where we wanted to go proved to be a refreshing and rewarding experience.” 

Chyz kept the assessor’s suggestions handy as the project moved toward its Stage II Assessment. 

“Whenever the owner wanted to push the envelope a bit further on the project, we had those suggestions readily available to discuss additional options with them,” Chyz says. 

Patient welfare and positive outcomes were the top priority, and the team also included sustainable measures with proven health benefits like low-VOC materials and patient-room access to daylight and views. Patients also have technology that allows them to manage their personal environments. 

“All these things improve the patient experience and ideally lead to faster recovery times,” says Spoden. “With our Four Golden Globes rating, UF Health can clearly demonstrate that these hospitals have the best interests of the environment, community and patients in mind.”