In 2016, Sweden will be home to a new hospital that will be a place of firsts. Based on the slogan “The Patient First,” the New Karolinska (NKS) will replace the existing Karolinska University Hospital in the Solna suburb of Stockholm. The goal of the new medical facility is to create an environment that supports truly translational medicine, i.e., an approach to healthcare that fosters strong ties between research, education, and professional practice.
The New Karolinska will seek to attain gold level Miljobyggnad classification, the Swedish equivalent to the LEED Gold standard in the U.S., or also known as Environmentally Classified Building (ECB), as well as LEED Gold. It also will be one of the first projects in Sweden to have been completed under a public-private partnership (PPP) agreement. Skanska is the project developer and design-build contractor, with Innisfree serving as investment and financing partner; Coor Service Management is responsible for facility management for the first 25 years after completion of construction.
From Karolinska to NKS
The Karolinska University Hospital and its neighbor, the medical university Karolinska Institutet, are already among Scandinavia’s most respected healthcare facilities. Founded in 2004 through a merger of Huddinge University Hospital and the Karolinska Hospital, which dates back to the 1930s, Karolinska is one of Northern Europe’s largest emergency and trauma centers as well as Sweden’s largest care unit for infectious diseases. The institution is also renowned for its integrative medical research.
Unfortunately, a side effect of this venerable history is a motley campus of 40 largely outdated, inefficient, and unattractive buildings, which, as a series of comprehensive studies and reports determined in the early 2000s, did not warrant renovation or expansion. Instead, the decision was made to replace the campus with a new integrated facility that would allow for development of the most cutting-edge clinical practices and delivery approaches known today.
The NKS will be an ultra-modern hospital with 600 inpatient beds, 125 of them part of dedicated intensive care and intermediate care units. The facility will include 100 outpatient beds, 36 operating rooms, and eight radiation bunkers. A 100-room patient hotel will provide outpatients coming in for treatment with the option of spending the night in proximity to the medical services they require without incurring the cost of actually occupying a hospital room.
The five new buildings will be between nine and 11 stories high, and will be complemented by a new technology building as well as a parking garage. The research and technology building will be integrated into the hospital complex with direct pathways leading from the hospital to the research facility and other Karolinska University laboratories. The hospital complex will be part of a larger urban redevelopment project, Hagastaden, around Norra Station, linking Stockholm and Solna across two major highways as well as local railway tracks.
The initial design concepts for the $2 billion project were delivered by White Arkitekter, the Swedish architectural firm that was also behind the redesign of the Stockholm Waterfront. It will be realized by Skanska under a design/build agreement with White and Tengbom Architects acting as architects of record.
Intended to be a landmark in Stockholm, the hospital’s façade will be clad in soft-white clinkers that include bricked components within a glass mantel structure. The complex is designed to integrate with the city, with expansive glass façades that face the city center. A large public square is being created in front of the new hospital, making it a natural part of the urban environment. Patients and visitors will enter the complex via a brightly lit, three-story-high indoor plaza that features cafés, restaurants, and lounges as well as a welcome desk and pharmacy.
A premiere public-private partnership
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