Greening of Healthcare Facilities: Case Studies of Children's Hospitals

摘要

Healthcare is one of the most significant built environment markets today with over 120,000 buildings in the United States. Moreover, in the next 15 years, an estimated $300 billion will be spent on hospital construction across the United States; therefore, there is a great opportunity for research and improvements to be made in this area. The built environment has a great impact on healthcare, particularly on the health, safety and well-being of patients and staff. Green healthcare offers benefit of improved clinical outcomes, reducing operating costs, energy consumption and water use. Children's hospitals are the most specialized centers for care, providing care for children with complex and rare conditions and they are therefore amongst the most complex types of facilities to design, construct and operate. This paper outlines the findings from three children's hospitals with different levels of sustainability in regards to the project delivery process, greening strategies and lean principles. This paper will provide a thorough understanding of the building delivery process in green children's hospitals, starting from programming, through design, construction, operations and maintenance. Using the Dell Children's Hospital of Austin, the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and the Hershey Medical Center Children's Hospital, this paper will show how coupling lean and green can make healthcare facilities not only efficient, but healthful places for treatment.