Woburn, MA – Fitzemeyer & Tocci Associates, Inc. (F&T) has been honored with the 2026 Silver Engineering Excellence Award from American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts (ACEC/MA) for its work on the Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital Inpatient Tower Addition in Boston. The award recognizes F&T’s MEP/FP engineering contributions to a project designed to expand patient care capacity while advancing sustainability, resiliency, and operational flexibility for the hospital. F&T was also awarded the ACEC National Recognition Award for the project.
The 5-story, 98,000sf Inpatient Tower addition, along with 15,700sf renovations to the existing hospital, provides 78 new private patient rooms, expanded radiology and MRI services, a new endoscopy department, and an eight-bed extended recovery unit. F&T served as the MEP/FP engineer of record, working alongside NBBJ Architects, McNamara Salvia, VHB, Tuner Construction Company, and Leggat McCall.
Constructed above active hospital departments and adjacent to the hospital’s main entrance, the project required careful planning and coordination to maintain uninterrupted clinical operations throughout construction. F&T developed engineering solutions that leveraged the hospital’s existing cogeneration and steam infrastructure while introducing new high-performance cooling and air distribution systems designed to support long-term healthcare delivery.
Key innovations include active chilled beams in patient rooms to enhance comfort and increase energy efficiency, a new water-cooled chilled water plant with N+1 redundancy, and a duel-fed electrical distribution system that strengthens resiliency for critical hospital operations. To support future emergency preparedness, the fifth floor was designed with the flexibility to convert portions—or the entirety—of the unit into negative-pressure patient care space. The addition increases inpatient capacity by nearly 20%, and it was designed to achieve LEED Silver certification.
“F&T’s collaboration was instrumental in designing and implementing sustainable, flexible building systems that support both current hospital operations and future healthcare delivery,” said Edwards Pitts, CHFM, CLSS-HC, executive director of facilities & support services at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital.
