To LEED^® or Not to LEED?

Mark Arnold, LEED AP, JE Dunn Construction Company
Doug Faus, Medical Center of the Rockies

Medical Center of the Rockies is one of the largest LEED healthcare projects west of the Mississippi. The new 558,000-square-foot, five-story, 134-bed tertiary and heart hospital features state-of-the-art technology including robotic-assisted surgical arms, electronic health records system, and advanced in-room telecommunications. The center is pursuing LEED Gold certification and incorporates numerous sustainable design elements and innovative features, including:

• Scenic views.
• Extensive daylighting.
• Operable windows in all patient rooms.
• Motion sensor lighting controls in utility rooms.
• Locally harvested stone and locally-manufactured brick.
• Seventy-eight percent of construction debris diverted from landfill.
• A rooftop terrace and courtyards with re-circulating water features.
• Low volatile organic compound emitting carpets and paints.
• Landscaping with drought-tolerant native plants.
• Wetlands for onsite stormwater filtration.
• Walking trails that integrate into the regional trail system, including a nature preserve.
• HVAC components optimized for energy efficiency and indoor air quality.
• Integrated, electronic controls to track real-time energy and water usage and trigger appropriate interventions if problems arise.

The Center is extremely innovative in terms of its compact, efficient floor plan, which will respond very effectively to future "plug-in" additions and medical office buildings. Also, the innovative planning layout creates an "intuitive way finding" throughout the facility contributing to patient ease, comfort, and safety with extensive and cumbersome signage being minimized.

The real motivator behind the health system's decision to pursue LEED certification was to create a facility that is healing and healthy for patients, visitors, and staff, but that will also lower utility bills and other operational costs over the life of the building.

Biographies:

Mark Arnold, LEED AP, is a senior project manager with JE Dunn Construction Company’s Rocky Mountain Operations. He has been with the firm for 18 years and has 22 years of construction experience.

Over the last four years, Arnold has been assigned as the senior project manager for the Medical Center of the Rockies. Arnold’s healthcare construction expertise was also recognized with his work at the Olathe Medical Center in Olathe, Kansas, where, due to the quality of the work, the owner requested that JE Dunn construct additional improvements, including the addition of the originally optional fourth and fifth floors; a 78,000-sqaure-foot women’s center including labour, delivery, recovery, and post-partum birthing suites; pediatrics; two elevators; and multiple program renovation projects. JE Dunn Construction is still building for Olathe Medical Center.

Arnold has a Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Science from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

Doug Faus is vice president of operations at the newly opened Medical Center of the Rockies (MCR), a Poudre Valley Health System facility. He joined MCR in January 2006, during construction. Along with other responsibilities, Mr. Faus oversees MCR’s daily operations that include facility, laboratory, radiology, hospitality, and volunteer services. During construction of the hospital he was involved with hiring of staff, developing policies and procedures, and negotiating contracts for various hospital services.

Prior to starting his position at MCR, Mr. Faus was CEO of the Estes Park Medical Center in Estes Park, Colorado. He has an extensive education in health care and business, having earned a Master's degree in Health Care from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Akron in Ohio. His undergraduate work was in health care and business administration at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota.

He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the health industry’s Association of Health Care Leaders in the United States, and stays active in local community and volunteer organizations.

Back to Agenda