Providence, Rhode Island-based Gilbane Building Co. will oversee the $5 billion, six-year renovation of the Mayo Clinic’s Rochester, Minnesota, medical campus, the contractor told Construction Dive Wednesday.
Gilbane will upgrade existing buildings and establish new facilities that include the structural and architectural support to allow for future expansions. The healthcare conglomerate’s board of trustees approved the plan on Tuesday.
Two new clinical facilities will make up a large share of the plan’s 2.4 million square feet of new space, according to the Mayo Clinic release. Located on the current Ozmun complex and Damon Ramp sites, the Mayo Clinic plans for these two buildings to reach nine floors above ground, to a height of 221 feet.
Additional work includes a new logistics center, two new patient parking ramps with 1,300 spaces each and a variety of transportation projects, including a bus rapid transit line.
A key focus of the project will be the flexibility of these clinical buildings. In standard facilities, rooms and areas are built to certain specifications depending on their purpose, such as patient rooms and imaging areas. In Mayo’s clinical buildings, entire floors will be able to shift functions as needs change over time, per the release. In addition, the foundation, core and shell of the new buildings will support future vertical expansion up to 420 feet.
“Mayo Clinic is projecting and planning for the next era of care by designing intentionally flexible facilities built to adapt and change to meet the needs of the next 100 years,” said Bridget Avikainen, associate administrator for the multiyear strategic initiative, in the release.
Five floors of the new facilities will connect directly to the campus’ Gonda Building, including a two-story skybridge that will connect these new buildings at the Gonda Building’s 10th floor, per the release.
“Our team looks forward to bringing our healthcare expertise and commitment to safety, innovation, and results through a construction management approach that focuses on collaboration,” said Thomas F. Gilbane, Jr., the chairman of Gilbane Building Co., in a statement shared with Construction Dive.
Preparatory work is already underway with the city of Rochester, neighboring properties and the community, per the release. Mayo Clinic is also engaged with enabling tasks, such as surveying and traffic studies across the Rochester campus. Gilbane will work with architect Foster + Partners and design firm CannonDesign.
More significant construction will begin in early 2024, the release said. The healthcare giant hopes to open some facilities in 2028, and complete the project in 2030.