Designers sought for 92,000-square-foot building to be centerpiece of new UGA medical school

The University System of Georgia Board of Regents is moving quickly to establish a full-blown medical school at the University of Georgia.

A new 92,000-square-foot education and research facility was revealed this month as the centerpiece of the initiative.

The planned new facility is a critical component of the regents’ plan to double the current 60-student class size at the Augusta University/UGA Medical Partnership, which has been providing physician education at UGA’s Health Sciences Campus since 2011.

The overall size of the planned new medical school is just one of the details included in requests for qualifications and for proposals for design services for the new medical school issued earlier this month by the regents.

More: The new UGA School of Medicine now has its first dean. Find out who it is.

According to the request for qualifications from firms interested in the project, approximately 25,000 square feet (about four times the area of a basketball court) of the planned 92,000-square-foot facility will be dedicated to research. More specifically, according to the request, the research area will be “wet lab” space, where biological matter, chemicals, drugs and other materials are tested. Such spaces require specialized ventilation and utilities piping.

Also, according to the request for qualifications, the wet lab space will be a BSL (Biosafety Level)-2 facility, meaning it will be a place where work is done with moderate-risk biological agents such as salmonella, HIV and hepatitis B.

Other features in the new building, in addition to the research space, will include clinical skills and gross anatomy laboratories, standardized patient rooms, a medical library and student lounge, along with conference rooms and faculty and administrative office spaces.

The request for qualifications includes a preliminary $79 million estimate for construction of the new facility, a number that includes development of new plans for using existing medical education space in Russell Hall and George Hall on the Health Sciences Campus.

More: UGA medical school gets approval with hopes of 'alleviating physician shortages'

The request for qualifications was issued March 7, along with a request for proposals from firms interested in providing design, architectural and engineering services for the medical school project.

The requests were sent out in conjunction with a $50 million outlay for the project in the state budget for the new medical school. The state outlay comes with an expectation that UGA will match that funding.

Once a firm is selected, design work on the medical school project is expected to begin in June, according to the regents’ solicitations. The selected firm will provide an array of services, including construction documents, for an estimated base fee of $5 million, according to the regents’ solicitation.

According to the solicitation, construction documents should be completed by the summer of next year, with the “start of construction … contingent on the availability of funding.”

The regents’ requests for qualifications and proposals from interested firms include some stringent project guidelines, such as requirements that new construction constitute “‘smart’ buildings with the flexibility to respond to rapidly evolving technology in the academic environment.’’

New construction also will be required to be “attractive and contextual with the existing campus buildings,” along with being “energy-efficient and sustainable” while fitting in with UGA’s campus master plan.

Responses to the request for qualifications are due by March 28, with the University System Board of Regents slated to complete evaluation of submissions and to notify finalist firms by April 5.

From there, proposals from finalist design teams are due by April 25, with interviews of firms selected as finalists in the process scheduled for May 6.

Gov. Brian Kemp included the $50 million outlay for the medical school in his budget for the upcoming fiscal year. State House lawmakers have approved the spending plan, which is slated for a vote by the full state Senate this week before heading to the governor’s desk for his signature.

In a recent presentation to the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce, Kemp touted a new UGA medical school to “keep our healthcare workforce strong and produce more doctors in the state.”

A new medical school, Kemp added, will be a “great asset to this community, and will also be a great asset to our state.”

In their request for qualifications for design of the new medical school, the regents touted the research aspects of the facility, noting that it will “capitalize on synergies with the many UGA faculty who are already engaged in research addressing critical issues in human health.”

The new medical school will also, the regents said in the request for qualifications, enhance “(e)xisting partnerships between UGA researchers and faculty at several other research universities and medical schools … .” Additionally, according to the regents’ request, the impact of the new medical school will be felt across the state as UGA’s public service and outreach initiatives will “partner with clinics, rural hospitals and local health care providers.”

As of late last week, the regents had not received any submissions from interested firms, according to an email from the University System of Georgia communications office.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: RFP issued for designers of research facility at UGA medical school