GOV. MALLOY TOPS OFF UCONN HEALTH’S NEW HOSPITAL TOWER
Bioscience Connecticut Credited With Creating More Than 2,600 Construction Jobs
On Monday, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced that the last of the steel beams
for what will be the new hospital tower at UConn Health are now in place,
marking another major milestone in the Bioscience Connecticut construction
on the Farmington campus.
“This is a proud day, not only for the thousands of hard-working
men and women who have spent the last 18 months building this facility,
but for our entire state,” says Governor Malloy, who led a topping
off ceremony Monday. “Bioscience Connecticut has always been about
the future, about what kinds of industries we want our state to be a leader
in. The progress being made here is a brick and mortar example of what
we can do when we pull together and make the tough decisions that will
benefit our state over the long term. We are not just making investments,
we are seeing results – results that over the long term will mean
good-paying jobs with good benefits in an industry that is poised for
growth throughout the 21st Century.”
It was Governor Malloy’s vision, together with support from the Connecticut
General Assembly, that led to
Bioscience Connecticut, a nearly $1 billion package of state investments in capital projects
intended to make Connecticut a worldwide destination for biomedical research
and health care. The hospital tower is one of the most visible of the
projects, which collectively have created more than 2,600 construction
jobs to date, with 81 percent of the contracts awarded to Connecticut
companies, valued at $291 million.
Construction of the 11-floor hospital tower is scheduled for occupancy
in early 2016. It will include a 43-bed emergency department and 11 state-of-the-art
operating rooms. All 169 patient rooms will be private and large enough
for family members to stay in the hospital with loved ones.
“The new hospital tower is a project that was designed, every step
of the way, to improve patient care, improve efficiency and collaboration,
and to best meet the needs of all of our patients and their families,” says
Dr. Frank Torti, UConn Health executive vice president for health affairs and medical
school dean. “It will be a place of healing and hope, as well as
today’s best technologies and tomorrow’s cures.”
The Bioscience Connecticut projects also include construction of the eight-story
UConn Health Outpatient Pavilion, scheduled to open in January, as well
as renovations to UConn Health research laboratory space, a doubling of
UConn’s space for start-up bioscience businesses, an expansion of
the UConn School of Medicine and UConn School of Dental Medicine, and
a number of investments for other hospitals in central Connecticut to
establish or strengthen regional collaborations.
“This is just the beginning,” says UConn President Susan Herbst.
“Together with the Tech Park and Next Gen initiatives on our main
campus, the University is very proud to be playing a vital role in economic
development for our region.”
The promise of Bioscience Connecticut paved the way for the state’s
engagement with The Jackson Laboratory of Bar Harbor, Maine, which is
building a research facility on the UConn Health campus focused on advances
in genomic medicine.
The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine is scheduled to open next month.
The latest construction site photos are available at
www.bit.ly/UCHCwebcam.
Additional photos and renderings are available at
http://biosciencect.uchc.edu/galleries.
UConn Health includes the schools of medicine and dental medicine, the
UConn Medical Group, University Dentists, and John Dempsey Hospital. Home to
Bioscience Connecticut, UConn Health pursues a mission of providing outstanding health care education
in an environment of exemplary patient care, research and public service.
More information about UConn Health is available at
www.uchc.edu.