The first phase of Atrium Health’s modernization of the Carolinas Medical Center Campus adds more than 1.2 million sq ft of space and two pedestrian bridges that connect new spaces back to the existing hospital campus and a surface parking lot. The five-story Carolinas Rehabilitation Replacement Facility houses 70 private patient rooms, an outpatient clinic, an outdoor therapy challenge garden, an aquatic therapy program and a center for independent living. The rehabilitation spaces include outpatient treatment areas, therapy pools, a gymnasium, a zero-gravity system, an outdoor therapy garden and a skills lab.

To combat potential labor shortages, the team adopted a prefabrication approach that kept labor off site while flattening out the labor curve and providing greater certainty to production. Originally over budget, the team rallied around shared project goals, design intent and Atrium Health’s mission. To manage the eventual scale of the project, the team used real-time cost tracking to provide feedback on decisions and maintain budget certainty. Using a target value delivery approach, DPR formed cluster groups with team members from Atrium Health, the design team, the project management team and DPR/Rogers.

Ultimately, the team achieved and maintained the budget without carrying significant design contingencies and meeting the design intent. The project completed under budget and on time in January 2023.