Engineering Inc. - September/October 2008 - (Page 9)

Boom Times Here is a sample of comments from industry experts on the surge in health care construction across the nation: n “Michigan’s health care institutions have not done this College of Engineering LIVE IT WHILE YOU LEARN IT. Take your career to the next level with an online master’s degree in Engineering Management. www.coe-online.drexel.edu/egmt much building in decades, since funding for the national Hill-Burton Act ended in 1974.” —Bob Riney, EVP/COO, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit (Detroit Free Press) n “Most clients we talk to are planning an addition or new towers.” —Joseph E. Kranz, health care manager, Turner Construction, Arlington, Va. (Mid-Atlantic Construction magazine) n “There are major hospital construction projects in nearly every metro area.” —WakeMed CEO Bill Atkinson (Triangle Business Journal of Raleigh/Durham, N.C.) n “Not since the 1970s has Minnesota experienced so much hospital construction.” —Jon Buggy, managing principal, Ellerbe Becket, Minneapolis (Finance & Commerce) robust construction sectors. Reed Construction Data shows that one-third of all 2007 health care construction starts took place in just four states—California, Florida, Illinois and Texas. And it’s not just hospitals. According to real estate analysts Grubb & Ellis, rentals for medical offices increased by an average of 2.8 percent annually in the 2000–2007 period, compared with traditional office space, which rose by an average of 1.3 percent per year in that same period. Future Growth Robert Bach, the chief economist at Grubb & Ellis, told the Associated Press that “medical properties are positioned to outperform other property types over the next 10 years.” FMI Corp.’s recently released Q2 2008 construction outlook provides these data for the next few years: Total nonresidential construction is projected to increase just 4.4 percent from 2007 through 2012; health care construction is expected to surge 49 percent during the same period. In other words, the march of health care construction will do more than continue— it will accelerate. Consider the latest FMI projections— health care constituted 8.5 percent of all nonresidential construction in 2007. In 2012, it will make up 12.1 percent. Thanks to America’s aging population, business indeed is booming. Joe Salimando writes frequently on the construction industry at www.eleblog.com. He can be reached at ecdotcom@ gmail.com. Learn. Network. Grow. SEptEmbER / oCtobER 2008 ENGINEERING INC. 9 http://www.coe-online.drexel.edu/egmt http://www.coe-online.drexel.edu/egmt http://www.eleblog.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Engineering Inc. - September/October 2008

Engineering Inc. - September/October 2008 Contents From ACEC to You News & Notes Market Watch Legislative Action Decision '08 Managing Risk in a Multidiscipline World Healthy Designs Taking the Next Step Business Insights 2008 Fall Conference Primer Members in the News One On One

Engineering Inc. - September/October 2008

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