As mass timber pushes into more project types, contractors and advocates are pursuing its inclusion in designs for one of the few construction sectors showing growth: health care.

Mass timber has long been used in office buildings and residential structures as supporters credit it for appealing aesthetics, faster tilt-up times, and competitive costs and performance. Health care is a tougher sector to crack, with strict code requirements for hospitals and unique considerations related to patient health.

Yet those hurdles have done little to dissuade mass-timber backers, who see a growing health-care sector that comprises one-sixth of the $30 trillion U.S. economy while commercial real estate has pulled back dramatically.

“We’re going to see more (mass-timber) projects that are health care, and we’re going to see larger portions of the projects that are mass timber,” said Dean Lewis, director of mass timber and prefabrication at Skanska, one of the large contractors working with the material.

Health care was a central topic at this week’s International Mass Timber Conference in Portland. Lewis covered health care as an emerging market for mass timber, while University of Oregon researcher Mark Fretz discussed “Mass Timber in Health Care and Infection Control.”

It makes sense for contractors and other industry insiders to pursue health care projects, said Iain Macdonald, director of the Tallwood Design Institute, a collaboration between Oregon State University‘s colleges of forestry and engineering, and the UO College of Design.

“Commercial is kind of a stagnant construction sector, and life sciences is one that’s growing,” he said.

While clients continue to rely on traditional concrete-and-steel construction for key hospital functions, the use of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and similar products in health care facilities is growing.

On the Oregon Coast, ZGF Architects‘ design for the Columbia Memorial Hospital expansion in Astoria uses mass timber for the entryway’s roof and other structural elements. The 183,000-square-foot facility will also include safe refuge areas in the event of a tsunami and acute care patient rooms on upper floors. The expanded hospital is slated to open in 2027.

The foyer of the new St. Charles Cancer Center in Redmond, a 53,000-square-foot facility that will open later this month, is made from mass timber.

The University of Oregon’s $71 million Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health, a 54,000-square-foot building under construction in Portland and designed by ZGF, will feature mass timber extensively, as does a $47 million building designed by Hacker for Mosaic Community Health in Bend.

In Lakewood, Washington, a behavioral health facility designed by HOK topped out in March.

“The mass-timber design serves a number of goals,” Loren Supp, HOK’s design principal in Seattle, stated in a news release. “It highlights the natural beauty of western Washington and its evergreen forests. It reinforces the state’s commitment to environmentally friendly design, and it creates a warm and calming environment that benefits well-being.”

Advocates point to the well-studied psychological benefits of inhabiting timber buildings. UO researchers last year published a study finding CLT had fewer viable bacteria than a plastic sample. The researchers also found that volatile organic compounds in CLT decreased over time.

Industry and UO researchers are studying the possibilities for expanding use of mass timber in hospitals.

“You’re not going to have it in the (operating rooms), but there are distinct advantages to having it in patient rooms, waiting areas and that sort of thing,” Macdonald said.

Industry officials are also studying mass timber’s potential for other uses, including warehouses, data centers and military bases.

Portland has long been the epicenter of mass-timber construction in the United States. Portland is home to notable projects such as the Mississippi Building, an all-wood office structure designed by Waechter Architecture; the 12-story Julia West House, designed by Holst Architecture; and Carbon12, an eight-story mixed-use building designed by Kaiser + Path.

Extensive use of CLT in the new Portland International Airport terminal marked a new chapter for mass timber in major public projects. And even some never-built concepts, including Framework and the Spar, led to important research for building tall wood structures.

In health care, Skanska’s Lewis said clients don’t need to be persuaded — they’re eager to build with mass timber.

“A lot of the clients, especially in the Pacific Northwest, harken back to our affinity for wood,” Lewis said.

Clients point to sustainability and valuing the experience of being inside the building.

“It seems like the ones that want to do timber are really invested in trying to create a space that they feel is above what they’ve seen in the market,” Lewis said.

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Students and faculty returning to the University of Portland campus this fall will have a new facility in which to stay in shape. The Beauchamp Recreation & Wellness Center is a $23.7 million, 73,000-square-foot building that features three gymnasiums, a suspended running track, climbing and bouldering walls, cardio and strength training areas, classrooms, and administrative space.

Skanska USA Building began work on the project in the spring of 2014 and turned it over to the university earlier this month. The building was designed by the San Francisco office of 360 Architecture, which was acquired by HOK earlier this year, and Portland-based Soderstrom Architects.

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Television executive Dick Ebersol has presented the University of Portland with a $100,000 donation to be used to help finish construction of the Beauchamp Recreation and Wellness Center on the private university’s Portland campus.

HOK and Soderstrom Architects designed the two-story, 72,270-square-foot structure, which will offer students, faculty and staff with expanded fitness areas featuring cardio machines, weights and strength stations; a climbing wall; an indoor track; a gym with three courts and studios. The design features a brick and glass facade.

General contractor Skanska is almost finished with construction. The center is slated to open in the fall.

The $23.7 million building is being paid for entirely with donor-supported money.

Ebersol, who previously served as the chairman of NBC Sports and now serves as senior adviser for NBC Universal Sports & Olympics, was the keynote speaker for a 75th anniversary celebration of the University of Portland’s Pamplin School of Business Administration in 2009.

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A new student recreation center is being erected by Skanska USA Building at the University of Portland. The Beauchamp Recreation and Wellness Center was designed by the San Francisco office of 360 Architecture (acquired by HOK earlier this year) and Portland-based Soderstrom Architects.

The design of the approximately $20 million, 72,000-square-foot facility incorporates large windows and open spaces with the goal of fostering relationships between students by putting various fitness opportunities on display. Designers incorporated the use of brick on the building’s façade in order to allow the structure to blend aesthetically with the campus’ older masonry buildings.

The new facility will include three gymnasium courts, an elevated jogging track, group fitness rooms, weight and cardio areas, locker rooms, a 32-foot rock wall, and a wellness center. Work on the project began last spring; the building is slated to open to students this fall.

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An effort to ensure that ailing Oregonians receive the appropriate type of health care has changed plans for the new state psychiatric hospital in Junction City.

this week is wrapping up construction in Salem on a 620-bed psychiatric hospital – the first of two that are replacing a 128-year-old facility. But after reassessing what the state’s needs were, members of the Oregon Health Authority decided to cut the number of beds in the second hospital, which will be built in Junction City, in half.

“We took a step back to see what the needs actually were,” said Patricia Feeny, communications manager for the Oregon State Hospital replacement project. “We decided that if we could reduce the geriatric population by getting them into more appropriate settings for dementia or Alzheimer’s rather than a psychiatric facility, we would come up with a different formula.”

Reducing the number of beds from 360 to 174 could mean a smaller contract for Hoffman and the subcontractors in Junction City. St. Louis-based architecture firm  and Portland-based are still working on the schematic design, though, so the impact on the budget and square-footage is still unclear, according to project administrator Linda Hammond.

She added that the team is working to stay as close as possible to the original $458.1 million budget that the Legislature allocated for the hospital replacements.

The infrastructure to support the site has not been changed, according to Parrish Van Wert, project liaison for the state. The 90-acre site in Junction City will also hold two state prisons, so the decision to downsize had less of an impact on the total infrastructure, which cost the state approximately $27 million.

Because the project team is the same for Junction City as in Salem, Bart Eberwein, Hoffman vice president, expects construction to begin smoothly next spring, even if there are changes to the site plans.

“We’re planning on moving a lot of personnel from one site to the other, so there are a lot of lessons learned in terms of constructing for a fragile population,” Eberwein said. “(In Salem) there were a lot of things that were figured out in preconstruction through a lot of collaboration.”

Because some of the work in Salem was next to buildings that still housed patients, Eberwein said the construction team became more aware of the patients’ needs. Unlike the old hospital, which had a ward-based floor plan and employed a stricter model for psychiatric care, the new facilities encourage patients to participate in activities and move around.

“You really want to build something with as much light and civility and potential for social interaction and healing as possible,” he said. “These are easy things to say, but it’s really different when you start to analyze the fixtures and room layouts, and we worked closely with the architects and nursing staff to put together a long list of what we’ve learned.”

The focus on a rehabilitative design is also part of the reason the Oregon Health Authority advised a reduction in the number of beds in Junction City, according to Hammond.

“The design is in line with the plan for continuous patient improvement,” she said. “The bed numbers came down in part because we want to focus on treatment and recovery and getting to the lowest level of care so individuals can be as independent as possible.”

Geriatric patients with Alzheimer’s or dementia will be diverted to community facilities rather than the secure psychiatric hospital.

Hoffman will start wetland mitigation on the greenfield site before construction begins on the facility. Crews next summer will begin to upgrade the intersection of Oregon Route 99 and Mill Iron Road, which will serve as an access point to the facilities, according to Van Wert.

“We only get the chance to do this every 100 years,” Hammond said. “As we look holistically at how we serve this vulnerable population, it’s important to take a step back, ask questions and make changes to get it right.”

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East County Courts project timeline

It’s take two for the East County Justice Center project in Gresham.

Along with a new architect, the Multnomah County-owned project will have a new construction manager and general contractor in the coming months. A request for proposals for CM/GC services deadlined last week.

The project, now called the East County Courts project, faced budget challenges in 2008 after a $14.6 million budget figure ballooned to nearly $42 million during programming discussions. As a result, the county put the project on hold and hired project manager Shiels Obletz Johnsen to look at reducing the scope of the project.

“Due to the change in the scope of work, we felt it was appropriate to rebid the project,” said Peggidy Yates, economic development policy advisor with Multnomah County.

Both Hoffman Construction, and architecture firms HDR and Emmons Architects, were notified of the situation by the County and invited to rebid for the project, according to project manager Steve Cruzen of SOJ.

“Hoffman never dropped out and no one was ever fired,” Cruzen said. “Nothing negative ever happened. We let both parties know this was the case.”

Under a new plan, the scale of the justice center has been reduced, and a new design team made up of LRS Architects and global design firm HOK has been assigned to the project. LRS project manager Paul Boundy said design work is just beginning on the facility.

“This will be the first significant new public building in Rockwood,” Boundy said. “It needs to reinforce the community without dominating the area. Working this into the fabric of the Rockwood community will be a challenge.”

The justice center building will need to blend with nearby buildings, which are occupied by a Taco Bell restaurant and a Parr Lumber outlet.

Planned for construction by early 2012, the new justice center will be built at Southeast Stark Street and 185^th Avenue and will include 35,000 to 40,000 square feet of space. Up to three civic courtrooms and related space for the state of Oregon District Court, as well as offices for the Multnomah County District Attorney, will be included in the schematic design, which is expected to be completed in mid-April.

The court facility will cost between $17.4 million and $20.7 million to construct, depending on how many courtrooms are included in the design.

“The lower cost would be a building with two courtrooms,” said Cruzen. “The highest cost would be with three courtrooms. And there are a couple of other options in between.”

Hoffman Construction, the firm that was originally selected as the CM/GC for the project in 2007, has again responded to the county’s RFP. Hoffman vice president Bart Eberwein says he expects competition for the government project to be fierce.

“There are a lot of hungry, good contractors out there,” Eberwein said. “We told the county to let us know when the clock starts again. The county has provided a level playing field and access to information. We’re just happy to be invited to the party.”

JE Dunn Construction Co., Emerick Construction, Bremik Construction, Skanska, Robinson Construction, Howard S. Wright and Lease Crutcher Lewis also responded to the county’s call for RFPs. Yates says oral interviews for the RFP will be conducted the week of February 22.

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