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Last updated: August 6, 2008
News
Above-Ground Construction Begins at Fort Belvoir
July 14, 2008
By Charles Widener DeWitt, Health Care Network Public Affairs
FORT BELVOIR, Va. – Signifying the strength of "one team," military and civilian leaders in the medical and construction communities ceremoniously erected the first steel column of the new $747 million state-of-the-art community hospital here Wednesday.
The event marked the start of vertical construction on the 1.2 million-square-foot facility, which is part of the Base Realignment and Closure 2005.
"This is an exciting day for not only JTF CapMed, the DeWitt Health Care Network and our partners, but for our beneficiaries as we all come together as one world-class team to support them," said Col. Daniel Gall, deputy commander for administration at DeWitt Army Community Hospital. "Our success depends on the contributions of our active, Reserve, civilian and contract personnel and their families, and we are committed to providing the best medical treatment possible to our beneficiaries. The new hospital embodies that effort."
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers North Atlantic Division Commander Brig. Gen. Todd Semonite echoed those sentiments when he told attendees that the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital construction effort is a "team effort."
"It will take everyone working together to build this hospital," the general said.
Semonite manages five engineer districts in the North Atlantic region, four of which are executing nearly $4 Billion of BRAC 2005 projects at Fort Belvoir.
"We must never forget that we are building this hospital for our heroes, our Soldiers," said Col. Dan Anninos, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District commander. "It's all about taking care of our Soldiers and making sure our heroes have the highest quality of medical care we can give them."
Norfolk District is the Corps entity managing the hospital project at Fort Belvoir.
The new hospital and its 120 inpatient beds will replace the 50-year-old DeWitt ACH and its 45 beds. Congress appropriated additional funds to accelerate construction of the facility in December. Groundbreaking took place Nov. 8, and construction officials expect to be finished by late summer 2010.
The new facility will be part of an integrated health care network providing world-class medical care to service members, veterans, and military families, and includes the realignment of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Naval National Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
Using a combined "design-bid-build" process for the hospital, the Army Corps of Engineers is accelerating design and construction while keeping costs and schedules under control, according to Corps officials.
A joint venture of architectural engineering firms HDR of Alexandria and Dewberry of Fairfax is overseeing design, costs and scheduling. In turn, the joint venture hired the Arlington County office of Turner Construction Co., along with Gilbane Building Co. of Providence, R.I., to perform actual construction.
The project is part of about $4 billion worth of various projects coming to Belvoir as a direct result of BRAC. $152 million is for new roads, bridges, utilities and other infrastructure.
The two largest projects are the new hospital and the $1.7 billion NGS campus headquarters that will encompass 2.4 million square feet at EPG. It will involve an estimated 3,000 construction personnel at the height of its construction, according to Col. Michael Rossi, director of Ft. Belvoir's Integration Office.