By Healthcare Facilities Today

Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital's desire to remain in Boston and on the water was strong enough to make a severely contaminated site a strong contender for it's new facility. And the opportunity to remediate the land was consistent with Spaulding’s rehabilitation mission, according to an article on the Healthcare Design magazine website.

The owner determined that the site could be cleaned up for $22 million and worked with the BRA to purchase the land from the city. A purchase price was negotiated that took into account the extra expenses, and Spaulding also received $7 million in brownfield tax credits. Once the cleanup was complete, the next step was designing a facility that took advantage of the site’s natural surroundings while also addressing some of the inherent challenges associated with it, the article said.

The initial design phase for Spaulding’s new $225 million rehabilitation facility was conducted from 2005 to 2006, during the time when Hurricane Katrina hit the southeast. Ownership recognized the potential for similar disasters and used lessons from the event to identify a series of overall resiliency measures, according to the article. 

The first floor level was set 42 inches above the 100-year and 30 inches above the 500-year flood elevations to factor sea level rise projections. In addition, the landscape incorporates a 3-foot berm around the perimeter to act as a protective reef.

Read the article.