Thanks to a collaborative team effort, the new VA Butler Health Care Center in Butler, Pennsylvania will improve and enhance the quality of care for military veterans and their families in the region earlier than anticipated. Built to replace a smaller, aging health care facility located 1.4 miles away, the project was accepted by the VA seven months ahead of schedule on May 26, 2017, and is set to open on September 5.
The project’s developer Cambridge Healthcare Solutions teamed with Stantec (architect) and Mascaro Construction (general contractor) on the 251,000-square-foot project, which is valued at $110 million. The VA will lease the facility from Cambridge for a 20-year term.
Similar to the existing medical building it replaces, the new Health Care Center was designed to meet a variety of health care needs, but is larger in size to accommodate the projected growth of the veteran population in the western Pennsylvania region. Services provided in the new facility include primary care, specialty care, mental health, dental, diagnostic, laboratory, pathology, radiology, podiatry, optometry, pharmacy, physical rehabilitation and women’s health. The building is also equipped for current and future technology enhancements, including telemedicine for several specialty areas.
Neal Flesner of Ventura Consulting Group facilitated partnering throughout the project’s design and construction phases. In a news release about the project, Cambridge President T. Michael Scott credited the project’s partnering program with helping the team meet the project’s goals and achieve success.
“Our approach was to truly partner with our client, the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as our team members,” said Scott. “We conducted five partnering sessions so that all stakeholders could deeply understand the concerns and goals of those designing, constructing, building and ultimately using the facility. As a result, we have a spectacular product that will be a welcoming experience for our veterans to come to for camaraderie, exercise and to care for their health. This is an experience that the VA and all involved can be very proud of; on budget and ahead of schedule.”
Read more about the new VA Butler Health Care Center HERE.