How An Office Building Converted To Health Care Space
February 27, 2015
To meet its need for growth, Chase Brexton Health Care purchased and renovated the Monumental Life Insurance Company building. Here’s how Larry Wilson, facility manager, Monumental Life Building, describes how the office building was converted into health care space:
"The Monumental Life Insurance Company building is really a complex of four connected office structures built between 1925 and 1968, with a total footprint of 192,000 square feet. As with most aging buildings, these were sometimes a challenge to manage, especially with old equipment and more than 700 employees scattered throughout the complex.
"Converting the old Monumental Life building from commercial use to a healthcare facility has transformed the facility. We've renovated approximately 85,000 square feet of what we now refer to as the South Tower, or roughly the southern two-thirds of the footprint. (The remaining portion — the North Tower — is likely to be leased out.) While the footprint is the same as the original, the interior has been entirely redesigned with patient service and safety as our overriding concern and objective.
"A few examples of the breadth of the changes: We completely removed two old staircases that ran from the 1st floor to the 6th floor and opened up additional space for clinical and specialty operations. Likewise, an entire bank of three elevators was demolished, interstitial floors poured and the newly acquired space used to create an unbroken flow of traffic that further improves service and the patient’s experience. The building's previous disjointed, cookie-cutter appearance is gone, replaced by excellent architecture and fine sightlines.
"In addition, we also retrofitted and modernized the building's MEP systems, installed new sprinklers throughout the facility, upgraded our life safety systems and added two new elevators to take patients, visitors and staff quickly and efficiently to their destinations.
"From a personal perspective, I believe the single most impressive aspect of the entire renovation project was how, from early on, Chase Brexton was committed to creating a quality healthcare environment, but insisted on preserving the gravitas and traditions of the original facility. This commitment is most apparent in our main lobby, where artifacts, if you will, of Monumental Life merge seamlessly with Chase Brexton’s own valued traditions."
This brief comes from Naomi Stanford, author of Organizational Health.
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