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All that experience, as well as the company's commitment to safety and quality, is being brought to bear on the $ 182 million project aimed at expanding and upgrading Gouverneur Healthcare Services, which is currently a 13- story long- term care and clinical service facility located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The project includes new construction of a 100,000- square- foot building- the number of beds will rise to 295 from the current 210- the gut renovation of the original structure, and the compete upgrade of all existing systems. Once completed, the new facility will house a new ambulatory care pavilion, known as the Center for Community Health and Wellness, which will be capable of handling some 345,000 outpatient visits a year, 15 percent more than it can service today. Upper floors will house the Residence at Gouverneur Court, a modern nursing facility that will represent the next generation of long- term care, with home- like spaces, private rooms and suites. Project executive James Palace says the project spent a considerable amount of time in the pre- construction planning phase, with budget directives altering design during that time frame. That phase also took longer to complete because of the sheer volume of coordination required. " You've got a 24/ 7 operating facility, and you've also got a complete infrastructure upgrade. You have to take the time to figure out where you can keep equipment up and running while those parallel systems are put in place and connections are made. We had to spend a lot of time looking at how we were going to move people in and out of the various floors along the way as well. It all had to be very carefully spelled out." The project demonstrates Hunter Roberts' commitment to safety as well, Palace says, with the company's new Incident and Injury Free ( IIF) program being utilized on the site. " Everything we do has got to be pre- planned down to the minutest of details." A significant portion of the renovation work will require asbestos removal, work that must be very carefully coordinated around the movements of hospital personnel. " On this project, safety and quality go hand- in- hand, and we spend a lot of time paying attention to both each and every day." Hunter Roberts is considered an advanced practitioner of the IIF approach and has been lauded for its safety efforts in the past, with General Building Contractors of New York ( GBC) naming Hunter Roberts a recipient of its Safety Excellence Award. Designed by RMJM Architecture, the project includes a new building that will wrap around the existing structure and connect to it on the upper levels. The existing structure is being updated to reflect modern care and aesthetic considerations, and the entire project has been designed to make the long- term care facility feel less like an institution and more like home, Palace says. Each residence floor will feature a unique elevator lobby, with patients and visitors entering through a living area featuring different Hunter Roberts Construction Group: Gouverneur Healthcare Services JANUARY 10 www. bus- ex. com 159