Marin General Hospital Starts Construction on New Wing

GREENBRAE, Calif. — A hospital replacement project began at Marin General Hospital on July 28. The $535 million revamp will be complete in 2020 and will meet LEED Silver standards.

State law requires that Marin General make its facilities earthquake safe by 2030. Currently, the facilities are outdated as the west wing was finished in 1989, the east wing was finished in 1961 and the central wing was built in 1952.

The 260,000-square-foot addition will be designed with larger hospital rooms that can accommodate state-of-the-art imaging equipment and robotics. It will contain 114 private rooms, including 19 intensive care units complete with floor-to-ceiling windows.

“It is going to be a facility that will be iconic,” said Marin General CEO Lee Domanico in a statement. “I believe the community will be proud to have it.”

The first part of the hospital construction project, a five-and-a-half-story parking garage with 408 spaces, was finished about a month ago. Domanico said the garage was finished on time and 3 percent under budget.

The parking structure includes photovoltaic panels on the roof designed to convert sunlight into energy for the building. It’s also designed to filter and recycle rainwater.
“It’s the first time our employees have had anywhere to park other than across or down the street,” Domanico said in a statement.
The new portion of the hospital will also feature 10,000 square feet of rooftop gardens. To complete construction of the gardens, 45,000 cubic yards of dirt was used to complete the gardens.

The new hospital wing uses a series of sustainable design principals that construct windows with high performance glass and sunshades designed to protect the building from light and reduce the cost of cooling the building.
The quality of air indoors will be free of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), known for contributing to high levels of toxicity in gas, carpeting and sealants.

LED lights will also be incorporated into the design to reduce energy consumption along with energy- and water-efficient showerheads and low-flow toilets. The rooftop gardens and landscape will be made with plants that require little water and low maintenance.
The majority of construction will be completed with recycled materials whenever possible as well as wood from sustainable sources.
“It’s not just about the product but also where you got it. Contractors are sourcing locally to prove it’s more sustainable,” said Jason Haim in a statement, principal and board director with Los Angeles-based Perkins Eastman.

Perkins Eastman, based in Los Angeles, designed the new facilities, the general contractor is McCarthy Building Companies Inc., based in San Francisco, and SWA Group, also based in San Francisco, is the landscape architect.