Beautiful Energy-Efficient Surrey Hospital Expansion Targets LEED Gold in British Columbia

Surrey, the fastest growing community in British Columbia, is now home to the largest healthcare project in the Canadian province's history. Delivered through a joint venture between <a href="http://www.ceiarchitecture.com">CEI Architecture</a> and <a href="http://www.parkin.ca/">Parkin Architects</a>, the <a href="http://www.ceiarchitecture.com/project/smh-critical-care-tower/">Surrey Memorial Hospital Critical Care Tower</a> is a state-of-the-art 420,000 square-foot facility that is targeting LEED Gold. Designed through a unique integration of universal design and evidence-based design, which was also accompanied by the need for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast-track_construction">fast-track construction,</a> this project is a true feat of ingenuity that helps to satisfy the <a href="http://www.thwink.org/sustain/glossary/ThreePillarsOfSustainability.htm">three pillars of sustainability</a>: being environmentally, economically, and socially responsible.

The Surrey Memorial Hospital Critical Care Tower is a $512M project that has increased the emergency department by five times, can provide specialized mental health and pediatric health, has improved areas for acute trauma patients, and has provided additional program areas for the University of British Columbia’s School of Medicine’s clinical teaching.

The exterior of the building is relatively modern with hints of heavy timber construction, which points to the wood construction tradition of British Columbia.

Typically hospitals are energy giants, and are capable of consuming massive amounts of energy. The LEED Gold-designed Surrey Memorial Hospital Critical Care Tower reduced energy consumption by 47 percent from standard design practices.

British Columbia’s government has an initiative to showcase the local wood industry, and CEI Architecture’s design team joined in to provide an innovative heavy timber portion of the building.

This beautifully modern building has given a new meaning to healthy design within British Columbia, and it boasts a unique interior design that better supports staff to care for patients.

The design team carefully considered the hospital’s layout and incorporate passive techniques such as natural daylighting for energy efficiency and to promote welcoming environments..

CEI Architecture’s interior design is fun and playful and boasts colorful tiled floors and plenty of natural light.

An interior organization technique, called pod zoning, also enables isolation of areas in the event of a communicable disease outbreak or act of violence.

These healthy indoor environments were also improved by the use of materials with low-VOC content in order to prevent off-gassing and toxic fumes that could harm occupants.