The new Penn Medicine Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania – Pavilion in Philadelphia has been awarded the LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The 17-story, 1.5-million-square-foot facility is one of the largest certified projects in the world to achieve Gold certification for LEED Healthcare and the first hospital in the United States of more than 1 million square feet to achieve certification in LEED Healthcare.
Conservation initiatives on the project included recycling construction materials, including 291 tons of scrap steel and 17,000 tons of concrete. In addition, about 25 percent of materials were prefabricated and manufactured off-site, including more than 570 mechanical/electrical/plumbing racks and the facility’s 504 patient room bathrooms, which minimized on-site waste, reduced traffic impact and site congestion, increased quality, and lowered cost.
Among the design features are the use of 100 percent outside air in the HVAC system and energy recovery wheels to capture and repurpose waste energy. Overall, the building’s energy efficiency efforts are anticipated to save more than 14 percent in annual energy costs compared to a traditional-build facility.
Addressing water savings, the facility was constructed to cut 30 percent of typical indoor water use through the installation of select fixtures and designs, including low-flow and low-flush toilets, sinks, and showers. In addition, more than 20 percent of the water for the HVAC system is provided by water captured and reused on site, while two cisterns help supply the chilled water system.
The project team included PennFIRST, an integrated project delivery team comprising Penn Medicine, HDR (designer; Omaha, Neb.), Foster + Partners (architect; London, England), BR+A (engineer; Philadelphia), L.F. Driscoll (construction; Bala Cynwyd, Pa.), and Balfour Beatty (construction; Canary Wharf, London).