UHS Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center, GW Health at St. Elizabeth’s East

Universal Health Services holds a 75-year agreement to manage the Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center, GW Health in Ward 8 at the St. Elizabeths East Campus. Located on the site of an existing hospital campus that was long in disuse, the completed facility will be the first regional hospital to open in the Washington, D.C. area in many years.  

The campus is currently under redevelopment to host a hospital, patient tower, and ambulatory care center. The six-story building will provide specialized space for acute and comprehensive behavioral health services, as well as a verified trauma center. UHS is managing the development of the project, to be passed over to the District of Columbia once complete, and therefore subject to many layers of management and oversight.  

Our team of commissioning and building enclosure specialists support UHS in this project as a key player and technical expert. We are frequently on site to verify installation of equipment and compare performance against design intent on HVAC, domestic hot water, automated power distribution controls, and metering and lighting control systems. Much of our testing is held against the standards of a LEED certification as described by the U.S. Green Building Council as well as specific energy codes required by the District of Columbia. We have worked with UHS to complete several behavioral health hospitals across the country and are able to use our knowledge and familiarity with the owner to support this project.  

The location and ownership of the new facility adds an additional layer of compliance to our work. Many of our deliverables, such as the commissioning plan document that outlines the systems and equipment to be tested, are reviewed by the building officials, general contractor, and owner for review. With government stakeholders invested in this project, all documentation requires approval in order to progress further in the project. Unlike the behavioral health hospital projects that we completed with UHS, this facility is unique in its design and requires frequent and thorough site visits and design time.  

Our frequent presence on campus was beneficial to the owner in identifying issues early in the project. Having observed the facility throughout construction, we raised some concerns about the condition of the roof. Rather than testing it after project completion as usual, we performed a roof moisture test mid-way through construction and discovered that about half of the roof was wet as it was installed. A wet roof is considered soiled, and our team advocated for the owner to verify and prove our findings and work on a remediation plan with the architect for a new, dry roof.  

Once complete, the Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center, GW Health in Ward 8 at the St. Elizabeths East Campus will integrate services provided by surrounding and supporting clinical care providers in the area. As an advocate to UHS, we will continue to be on site to observe project progress and provide commissioning, monitoring-based commissioning, and building enclosure commissioning services for a completed project that reaches optimal performance expectations.