King's Daughters gets approval to add hospital floors in Ashland

The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees approved the start of design and construction for a $335 million King's Daughters improvement program on September 18. The program spans five years and covers Ashland, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio.

In Ashland, the plan adds three floors above the existing six-story Parkview Patient Tower 2. The new floors would hold 150 additional inpatient beds.

A vertical addition above an existing hospital

The university's announcement also approves renovation and expansion of cardiovascular operating rooms, inpatient pediatrics, main operating rooms, labor and delivery, and laboratory services in Ashland. The cardiovascular work includes a second hybrid operating room.

Adding floors above an existing clinical building makes system capacity and construction separation early questions. Electrical firms need the design for extending distribution and determining which existing equipment stays. Communications, security and fire alarm firms need the interface scope between the addition and the floors below.

Those are estimating questions arising from the announced layout. The release does not provide engineering conclusions about existing system capacity.

Renovations inside the hospital may also be bought and sequenced differently from the vertical addition. A contractor should identify the rooms available for work, temporary service arrangements and approved interruptions for each package.

The headline budget crosses state lines

The Portsmouth campus is slated for increased emergency and urgent care capacity and more diagnostic and outpatient space. The $335 million total includes those Ohio projects and the Ashland improvements. It should not be assigned entirely to the tower addition.

Approval to begin the program does not establish a construction start for every component. The release supplies no package dates, builder, trade headcount or hourly wage.

What to follow next

The next useful evidence is the design and procurement schedule for each Ashland component. That will show whether a contractor can price a discrete renovation or needs the capacity to handle the tower addition.

For workers, a five-year capital program is not a five-year employment commitment. Get the assignment, employer and expected duration in the actual offer. Compare Kentucky terms with the state electrician pay report; work across the river in Ohio needs its own comparison.