Emory University has reached phase two of a campus-wide renovation program that involves expansions to the Emory University Hospital.
Upon completion of the Woodruff Circle Realignment, the Emory University campus construction has shifted to the hospital. The university hospital will be expanded with the construction of a new tower off of Clifton Road, on the site of the Emory Clinic Building B.
According to a Nov. 16 university press release, the new Emory Clinic will include space for patients, offices, and research.
This new clinic will be situated on the other side of Clifton Road from the current Emory University Hospital.
Specifically, one hundred and twenty-eight rooms will be added to the hospital system, including updated operating and patient rooms.
The project will also create new walkways to the hospital and a new parking garage. Construction on the parking garage is scheduled to begin within the next few months.
In order to begin construction, trees in the forest area between Lowergate Drive and Gambrell Drive must be removed and then replanted in accordance with university and county regulations.
Forty-nine trees are scheduled to be removed in the next few weeks before the hospital expansions commence.
In addition, the University must follow certain policies that it has set in place to prevent the depletion of its surrounding forests.
The Land Classification Plan and the No Net Loss of Forest Canopy Plan together account for the University's forest management policies, according to university architect James Johsnon.
The Land Classification Plan is a comprehensive plan that delineates where development should take place, among areas that have the potential to be developed.
According to Johnson, about half of campus consists of managed or developable land.
Johnson designed the other land development policy, known as the No Net Loss of Forest Canopy Plan.
This plan decrees that when trees are removed, they must be replaced by trees that generate an equivalent or greater amount of forest canopy as the original.
Chair of the Committee on the Environment Jan Hawes explained that since the No Net Loss of Forest Canopy Plan policy was implemented, the forest canopy around campus has gained ten percent beyond its original level.
In turn, one hundred and thirty-three trees are scheduled to be planted.
Construction on the hospital is scheduled to begin immediately afterwards.
For this project, $30 million of a $261.5 fund has been approved for use in the renovation, scheduled to be completed in 2016.
– By Lily Faust
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