Planned $360 Million Hospital Reaches for LEED Gold

PORTLAND, Ore. — Plans are in the works for a new $360 million Kaiser Permanent hospital complex that will meet some of the worlds strictest environmental standards. Health care system officials predict the Kaiser Westside Medical Center in Tanasbourne — between Beaverton and Hillsboro — will qualify for LEED Gold status, making it one of just 36 health care facilities in the world to reach that designation.

While LEED-certified buildings are becoming common, achieving LEED certification in the medical building world has thus far been uncommon.

The combined project, including the hospital and adjacent eight-level parking structure, will use high-efficiency water boilers and heating, ventilation and air conditioning units. It will use nontoxic carpet, paint and rubber flooring and building materials free of dioxins, lead, cadmium and mercury. The building will be insulated with materials made from recycled denim. The facility will generate on-site renewable power from solar panels, utilize occupancy sensors in certain areas to preserve electricity and use windows designed to provide natural lighting.

The Kaiser Westside Medical Center won’t be the first hospital in Oregon to attain LEED Gold standard. That designation went to Providence Newberg Medical Center, a $70.6 million development that became the first LEED Gold certified hospital in the nation when it opened in 2006.