Officials broke ground Monday on the new $534 million Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, Texas.
The project, being undertaken by Balfour Beatty McCarthy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Health Facilities Planning Agency and Medical Command, is the largest to date, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It was authorized on November 8, and construction is scheduled to be completed in May 2014.
The Balfour Beatty McCarthy team is providing design-build services for the 947,000-square-foot project, which will replace the existing 45-year old Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center.
“This is among the first design-build healthcare projects of this magnitude to be awarded by USACE,” said Michael J. McWay, president of McCarthy’s Texas division and chairman of the Balfour Beatty McCarthy Management Committee. “The Balfour Beatty McCarthy team is excited to bring our extensive experience with this delivery method to work for the Government on such a prestigious project.”
“From the start, our goal was to have a fully integrated team approach on this project. We selected our team members based on their healthcare expertise as well as their experience working with us on similar projects,” said Billy Bryan, director of operations for Balfour Beatty Construction. “Over the last few months, through partnering, project kick-off sessions and design charrettes, we further solidified the integrated team approach with USACE, HFPA and MEDCOM, and created a strong foundation that will help us ensure the new medical center is a world-class facility,”
The new medical center is being designed to meet USGBC LEED Gold certification requirements. Sustainable measures include a projected reduction in energy use of more than 30 percent over ASHRAE Standard 90.1, a utility use reduction of 55 percent, a 50 percent water reduction for irrigation use and a 30 percent decrease in water use for plumbing systems. The new facility will also use a dedicated outside air system, which will improve indoor air quality and eliminate the recirculation of air in patient care areas.