Springfield College is doing its part to address the shortage of healthcare workers in the United States. Just over two years ago, the school celebrated the grand opening of the Brown Cooper Health Sciences Center. The new building houses the School of Health Sciences and provides students and faculty the opportunity to work in state-of-the-art learning spaces.
How the Project Came Together
The origins of this project date back to 2017, when Springfield College debuted a “Master Plan.” This wide-ranging document outlined a number of future plans for the college, including a new health sciences building. The school partnered with Centerbrook Architects to design the building. The plan was officially announced early in 2021 and construction work, which was overseen by Consigli, began in spring 2022. The work was completed in less than 18 months, enabling the building to open for the fall 2023 semester.
The New Building
The new four-story facility has more than 86,000 square feet worth of space. For the past two years, it’s housed students across the various healthcare specialties offered by Springfield College, including Physical Therapy, Physician’s Assistants, Occupational Therapy, Undergraduate Health Sciences, Communication Sciences, Disorder Studies, and Speech Language Pathology.
The students in these disciplines have access to state-of-the-art classrooms, immersive learning laboratories, a modern simulation suite, an operating suite, remotely observable examination and treatment rooms, a functional living suite for rehabilitation practices, a makerspace for designing new wellness technology, a human anatomy laboratory, study areas, lounge areas, and more technology-rich spaces. Meanwhile, 80% of the power to the building is generated by a solar canopy.
In total, the project cost $62 million, $53 million of which was raised by the college’s “Advancing Humanics” Campaign. The campaign concluded during homecoming weekend in Oct. 2024, when a dedication ceremony was held, and the name of the building was officially unveiled.
An Investment in the Future of Healthcare
Among the many aims of the project was to make an investment in the future of the American healthcare industry. There is already a sizeable labor shortage across the industry, which is projected to grow into the hundreds of thousands or even millions over the coming decade. Mary-Beth Cooper, the President of Springfield College, addressed this topic when speaking to gathered media at the dedication ceremony.
“We know that there is such a need for healthcare providers at every level. PAs, OTs, PTs, DBTs, and the list goes on,” Cooper said. “And so we look at the needs emerging in society, it’s unbelievable how many employees we’re going to need to produce and make sure that our students are ready to go out, and they always are.”
At Construction Protection Systems, we’re proud to have played a small part in development of the Brown Cooper Health Sciences Building at Springfield College by protecting their many new doors from construction damage. Stay tuned for more updates from the makers of 1-2-3 Door Shield—the original, reusable door protection system.