Operational Excellence

August 30, 2007

Newspaper Highlights 'Green' Construction at Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center

Environmentally sound construction techniques and materials used at the Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center project caught the recent attention of journalists covering the project.

The 150-bed medical center in Vacaville (about 20 miles southwest of Sacramento, Calif.) is slated to open in spring 2009, notes the article in the Vacaville Daily Reporter. The project features successful "green" practices — from PVC-free flooring to a cogeneration plant that will create electricity from excess heat — that Kaiser Permanente has used in several recent construction projects.

Other green construction features include the use of low-emissions paint, a floor plan featuring interior courtyards and abundant windows, and the use of recycled pavement for the parking lot and recycled water for landscape maintenance.

The Vacaville Medical Center project is part of Kaiser Permanente's ambitious construction portfolio over the next several years that is aimed at providing better service for members and for seismic improvements at numerous existing facilities. Kaiser Permanente fully opened its new Santa Clara Medical Center campus Aug. 7, opened its West Los Angeles Medical Center earlier this year, and expects to open two more medical centers in California (Antioch and Panorama City) later this year.

In Oregon, a major portion of a multi-year expansion of Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center in Clackamas opened Aug. 1. Medical office buildings in Buford and Stonecrest, Georgia, also are expected to open later this year. Kaiser Permanente opened its West Cobb Medical Center in Austell, Ga., in April.