Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at North Druid Hills

The new North Druid Hills campus of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta – the city’s only dedicated paediatric healthcare system – is designed to provide transformative care for patients and families, leveraging the latest advances in technology and sustainability. We were invited to participate in the masterplanning phase of the project and were retained by Earl Swensson Associates to continue into the design phases for some of the most specialized components due to our extensive experience in delivering complex healthcare schemes.

The new facility is indeed complex and forward-thinking. One example: the creation of a six-bed special care unit within the emergency department for the treatment of patients with potentially highly infectious diseases. If a case of Ebola or another easily transmittable virus is detected, this area can be rapidly converted from a normal emergency department to a sealed-off facility, where the flow of people, decontamination procedures and the removal and incineration of objects can be managed. Additional operating rooms to isolate patients with other infectious diseases will allow the hospital to continue to function during a viral outbreak – a consideration given renewed prominence by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our remit includes the 19-storey, 446-bed hospital, with its intensive care facilities and diagnostic and treatment areas. We are also responsible for the central utility plant, which is designed for the hospital’s long-term growth, and will provide the option of powering the entire facility during a power outage.

The complexity of the project means the way we have been working – being self-sufficient and engaging with the client in a thoughtful way – is just as important as the work we are doing. We are part of a closely integrated, multidisciplinary team of consultants and contractors who are together shepherding the project through the design process. The construction and evolution of the campus will continue throughout the next decade, and we will remain part of the team as construction progresses.