Capital Health System Replacement Hospital

Cost: $777 Million

Capital Health’s $777-million replacement hospital in Hopewell Township, N.J., features the latest technology and patient-centered services.

“It was less expensive in the long-term analysis to replace the [existing] facility than to try to upgrade it,” says Shane Williams, director of new hospital construction for Capital Health. “The aging infrastructure on the existing facility would not support some of the new technology.”

The Mercer Medical Center is about 100 years old. It’s in urban Trenton on a land-locked site. The health system is still studying alternative uses for that property.

HKS of Dallas designed the 237-bed, six-story, 932,000-sq-ft hospital and Capital Health’s master plan. All components of the new campus—from the medical office building to the medical-surgical units to the specialty tower, with labor and delivery suites, a nursery and intensive care units—connect through a four-story, glass-clad atrium. Physicians, nurses and patients can move from one setting to the other without going outside.

A fireplace in the lobby and a water wall flowing to the lower-level restaurant create a warm, hotel-like feel to the entrance.

“We used some materials they are familiar with from the existing campus and usher in the idea that this is a modern facility, and the highest technology is housed in this facility,” says Dan Noble, executive vice president and director of design for HKS. “It’s instilling a sense of confidence in high tech and forward thinking, and also comfort in elements of the facility that are familiar and well worn.”

All of the rooms are identical. Windows bring in maximal natural light. 

All the rooms take “advantage of the latest research and development in health-care construction, in terms of patient safety and amenities,” Williams says.

Capital Health has planned future phases. A second, with 144 beds, could be built as soon as three to five years. And HKS has laid out the master plan so that the 165-acre campus could accommodate 144 more rooms in the future.

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Skanska USA Building of Parsippany, N.J., began the $341-million, guaranteed-maximum-price project in August, with completion scheduled for October 2011.

“We came through a challenging winter and kept on schedule,” says Bill Sahwell, senior vice president and project executive for Skanska. “We were working on concrete, excavation and fill all through the winter. We pushed through, and it worked out well.”

Skanska had to rip out a considerable amount of shale-limestone rock located 3 to 8 ft below the surface. It imported 165,000 cu yds of fill to avoid excavating deeper and running into additional rock. The structural-steel building will sit on a concrete spread-footing foundation. The project will consume 54,000 tons of steel and 35,000 cu yds of structural concrete.

Curtain wall, precast and metal panels clad the exterior.

The project team aims for LEED certification. The hospital features landscaped roofs and healing gardens for patients, energy-efficient equipment and regional and recycled materials. Skanska is working around wetlands and is recycling construction waste.

Skanska has focused on construction of the central utilities plant and underground piping so that it can bring utilities in the main facility by the end of this year. Sahwell anticipated topping out this summer.

Once construction is completed, Capital Health’s Regional Cancer Center and Institute for Neurosciences – a community perinatal center with a level 2 neonatal intermediate care unit, comprehensive inpatient pediatric unit, pediatric emergency services, cardiology services, adult emergency services, intensive care and other medical and diagnostic services – will move to Hopeville. Then Capital Health will close its West Trenton hospital, which is about 6 mi away.

Team Box

Owner: Capital Health, Trenton, N.J.
Contractor: Skanska USA Building, Parsippany, N.J.
Architect: HKS, Dallas