Skip to main content
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Digital Health
    • Transformation
    • ESG
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Opinion
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • Data Center
    • Data Center Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • Newsletters
  • MORE+
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Construction & Design
September 02, 2016 01:00 AM

Gold Award: Humber River Hospital

Joseph Conn
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    Faced with significant financial and bureaucratic constraints, but willing to set lofty goals nonetheless, hospital officials in Toronto met their once-in-a-lifetime challenge with award-winning results.

    The gold medal in the 31st annual Modern Healthcare Design Awards goes to the new Humber River Hospital and architectural firm HDR of Omaha, Neb.

    The 656-bed hospital, which opened last fall, was built with its own triple aim: Lean, green and high-tech.

    Hospital planners used Lean Six Sigma methodologies, including a pre-construction workflow analysis, to identify and create labor-saving design features, such as a layout that significantly reduced staff footsteps.

    Leaders also committed to using energy-saving devices such as low-flow plumbing fixtures and lighting strategies to maximize the use of daylight with the goal of achieving the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver-level standard.

    Related Content

    Winning designs reflect two industry trends

    The 2016 Design Award winners

    More about the Design Awards

    The 2015 Design Award winners

    2016 Construction & Design Survey: Projects by construction phase

    Construction gets greener, but fewer projects abroad

    Commentary: Integrated approach is a best practice in health facility development

    And finally, to create an “all-digital hospital,” leaders deployed the latest versions of Meditech's electronic health record systems, self-guided robots and a text-messaging system that can update a relative when a loved one gets out of surgery.

    “I was captured by the final results of this hospital,” said judge Agnessa Todorova, director of integration at Aditazz, a Brisbane, Calif., construction and design firm.

    “The art pieces on the front façade, a colorful representation of trees—that was definitely very inviting,” Todorova said. “The use of robots for materials management frees up a lot of time and resources that can be dedicated to being more patient-friendly. I think that balance between being very friendly and technologically savvy is what made me put it at the top of my list.”

    Fellow judge Cecilia DeLoach Lynn, of Practice GreenHealth, said she was impressed with the building's “incredible operational efficiency,” noting that Humber River's design reduced anticipated energy consumption by 41.8%.

    “We recognized this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Humber River CEO Barbara Collins. The new hospital, with about 80% single-patient rooms, replaces three sets of hospital buildings from the 1940s, '50s and '70s that had mostly double rooms and wards.

    Under Canada's healthcare system, the local hospital was eligible for a package of funding to build the new hospital. But the government doesn't pay for computers, equipment or a parking garage, Collins said.

    “You have to be very thorough, very wise and very careful about not overbuilding,” Collins said. “So, they expect business cases. And we really did flood them with business cases.”

    It fell to the hospital to raise $225 million to fill the shortfall. That meant preparing more business cases and “lots of publicity explaining” why more money was needed, she said.

    During pre-construction, planners tracked staff movement in the old hospital buildings.

    “They determined in a typical 12-hour shift, a nurse would have to walk 5.4 kilometers (3.3 miles) to do what they had to do,” said Jerry Jeter, vice president and principal with HDR. “If they upsized those rooms, it would more than double that to 11.8 kilometers (7.3 miles).”

    Jeter, his design colleagues and members of the Humber River staff went to work, creating a layout that cut travel distances by 18.3%. How?

    “A lot of it had to do with how and where we located main circulation paths and centralized services,” Jeter said. “Then it became a little game—how could we cut that. We spent a lot of time being very rational about how things were laid out and mindful of the orientation of rooms."

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    5 takeaways about the state of healthcare construction
    5 takeaways about the state of healthcare construction
    Atrium Health building
    Health systems ‘taking a breath’ on major construction projects
    Most Popular
    1
    More healthcare organizations at risk of credit default, Moody's says
    2
    Centene fills out senior executive team with new president, COO
    3
    SCAN, CareOregon plan to merge into the HealthRight Group
    4
    Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan unveils big push that lets physicians take on risk, reap rewards
    5
    Bright Health weighs reverse stock split as delisting looms
    Sponsored Content
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Digital Health
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • ESG
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Opinion
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Data Center
      • Data Center Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • Newsletters
    • MORE+
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing