Gresham Smith-Designed UF Health North Inpatient Tower Earns LEED Silver Certification

10月 7, 2019

Gresham Smith is pleased to announce that UF Health North’s 92-bed inpatient tower has earned LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The 160,000-square-foot, five-story building, which opened in February 2017, expands UF Health’s footprint and delivers quality care to a previously underserved area in North Jacksonville, Florida.

“UF Health understands the importance of creating healthy, sustainable buildings in order to offer a truly human-centric facility. We value our partnership with them and their investment in certification, which speaks to UF Health’s commitment to environmental stewardship,” said Rick Bouchereau, AIA, LEED AP, vice president and principal, Gresham Smith. “I’m proud of our team’s creative design, which resulted in a truly exceptional patient experience, empowers staff to deliver quality care and helps minimize environmental impact while offering cost-saving efficiencies.”

Materials, resources and site sustainability were key drivers for certification. Highlights of the project’s sustainable design include:

  • A green roof, which reduces heat island effect while also providing positive distractions for patients, staff and visitors.
  • A 44% reduction in potable water use.
  • An outdoor courtyard and garden, with designated patient and visitor and staff-only spaces, providing direct access to the exterior, an area of respite and connection to nature.
  • Diversion of 79% of all on-site construction debris from the landfill.
  • Bike storage and showers, hybrid vehicle charging/parking stations and carpool parking to encourage alternative modes of transportation.
  • An adaptable, flexible design to allow for expansion and ease of adaptive reuse.
  • A walkable project site including continuous sidewalks connecting to public sidewalks.

The project helps elevate the UF Health brand to attract both patients and high-quality staff to the facility. The inpatient tower was phase II of the hospital project and connects to a six-story, 200,000-square-foot ambulatory care and medical office complex. Gresham Smith provided planning, architecture, interior design and experiential design and wayfinding services for the tower.