Portland, ME – In separate selection processes, the University of New England (UNE) chose two Maine firms to design, engineer, and construct a new facility for its College of Osteopathic Medicine, to be relocated to the university’s Portland campus.
SMRT Architects and Engineers is providing full design services, while Ledgewood Construction is acting as construction manager.
The new 110,000sf facility will cap an integrated healthcare campus in Portland, integrating the university’s robust physician education with existing dentistry, pharmacy, physician assistant, nursing, dental hygiene, social work, nurse anesthesia, and physical and occupational therapy programs.
Consolidating its health professions education on one campus enhances opportunities for students and faculty to focus on collaboration, patient-centered care and improving population health.
This new medical school will include administrative offices for 180 faculty and staff and will relocate UNE’s data center for both the Portland and Biddeford campuses.
Also planned are a digital health center focusing on telehealth, an interprofessional patient simulation center, an anatomy lab and a technology-enabled osteopathic manipulation laboratory, and enhanced site amenities and expanded on-site parking.
The new construction and associated renovations will focus heavily on best practices for medical education and team-based learning, with collaboration spaces and superb technology capabilities needed to advance future innovation and excellence for healthcare education.
“This project will allow UNE to bring its signature healthcare education to the next level,“ said Eric Mora, director for campus planning at UNE. “We understood the need to bring on strong partners for the design, engineering, and construction of our new building, which is the largest project ever undertaken by the university. Both SMRT and Ledgewood Construction bring immense expertise and experience.”
The university plans to be operating in the new facilities in the summer of 2023.
