Skanska Begins Construction on $68 Million St. Joseph Hospital Expansion

Eureka, California’s second-largest employer adds new facilities and renovates existing structures

BEAVERTON, OR, June 18, 2008 – Skanska USA Building Inc. has been named construction manager for a 100,000-square-foot, three-story expansion project at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, California.



The $118 million program is projected to take 31 months to complete plus an additional 11 months for the renovation of more than 12,000 square feet within the existing hospital. The architect is Kaplan McLaughlin Diaz.

Skanska crews are no strangers to the sensitive and complex type of construction that is required for the hospital. “The planning and building of a hospital is a complicated matter, but St. Joseph is in good hands since we have a wealth of experience in this type of construction and have some very talented and skilled individuals working on the project,” said Skanska’s David Dwyer, Project Manager. “Working with hospital administrators and staff has been phenomenal and because of that open communication the project will move quickly and efficiently.”

The existing hospital will be up and running throughout the entire construction project. During all construction phases the hospital staff and Skanska crews will carefully coordinate scheduling between surgeries and other sensitive patient care activities to ensure that hospital operations are uninterrupted.

"We're very excited about our new relationship with Skanska," said Joe Mark, President and CEO of St. Joseph Health System - Humboldt County. "The new addition to our hospital will help us continue to meet our community's healthcare needs and better serve the residents of Humboldt County. The new addition will more than double our emergency department capacity, increase intensive care unit beds and capacity in our progressive care unit as well as our imaging department and many other much needed services. Skanska is helping shape the future of healthcare in Humboldt County."

The new building will be tethered to the existing building so they can operate as one entity as opposed to two separate structures. This means several months of prep work will be put in place in order to make the connections from the old building to the new building. Crews will bring in generators during that period in order to keep power up and running at the current facilities to ensure that there will be no period of time at which power will be shut off at the current facilities.

In addition, Skanska crews will tie in the existing chilled water system to the new building, utilizing a temporary 200-ton chiller to ensure that the hospital is able to maintain a temperate climate during the connection.

The new facilities are projected to open in late summer 2010 and will be complete with an interior courtyard, open air landscapes and a healing garden where patients and staff can go to relax and feel more at home as opposed to a sterile hospital environment.

Skanska USA Building Inc. is a leading national and local provider of construction, pre-construction consulting, general contracting and design-build services to a broad range of U.S. industries including life sciences, healthcare, education, high-tech, aviation, transportation and sports and entertainment. Skanska USA Building also provides pharmaceutical validation services to clients. The company, part of the Skanska AB global group of companies, is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, and has approximately 4,700 employees.

Skanska is one of the world’s leading construction groups with expertise in construction, development of commercial and residential projects and public-private partnerships. The Group currently has 60,000 employees in selected home markets in Europe, in the U.S. and Latin America. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden and listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, Skanska's sales in 2007 totaled $20 billion.

St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, California image / text from B.R.A. 180608



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