Expanding Community Healthcare
The booming Bluffton community in South Carolina will soon have its first hospital and access to essential healthcare services closer to home.
Bluffton Community Hospital
Bluffton, SC
Beaufort Memorial, a trusted provider of high-quality healthcare in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, has seen a surge in demand for healthcare services as the population ages and grows. Between 2020 and 2023, the population in Bluffton grew 27.1 percent, intensifying the need for emergency, surgical, and outpatient services. Beaufort Memorial is expanding its reach and operations with a new community hospital in Bluffton, bringing care closer to home for residents who have been traveling long distances to the nonprofit’s main hospital.
A model for smart, incremental growth, the project reimagines healthcare delivery with a smaller, more efficient footprint that provides emergency care, imaging, inpatient care, and outpatient services.
Ensuring Design Delivery Success
A key component of the project’s success is the use of an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) lite delivery model, which promotes early collaboration between the design team and contractor. This approach ensures a coordinated process, resulting in a tightly controlled building envelope and interior package that reduces costly value engineering and schedule delays.
The result is a highly adaptable, patient-centered facility that supports Beaufort Memorial’s long-term goals without overbuilding. In addition to serving everyday healthcare needs, the critical infrastructure design of the community hospital and its location will allow Beaufort Memorial to function as a receiving facility during natural disasters, strengthening regional emergency preparedness.
