Immediate (Tuesday, September 14, 2004)

Collin Parker

Fletcher Allen Public Affairs

802-847-2886

Pizzagalli Awarded $10M Construction Contract for Inpatient Psychiatry Unit at Fletcher Allen

BURLINGTON, VT - Fletcher Allen Health Care has selected Pizzagalli Construction Company of South Burlington as the recipient of an approximately $10 million contract for construction of the academic health center's new inpatient psychiatry unit.

When completed, the new inpatient psychiatry unit will occupy more than 20,000 square feet on two floors of a renovated and expanded Shepardson Building, one of the buildings located on the Medical Center Campus in Burlington.  The construction is part of Fletcher Allen's $367.3 million Renaissance Project.

The new 28-bed inpatient psychiatry unit will have the same number of beds as the unit it replaces, but they will be configured differently.  The current unit in the Smith building has four private rooms and 12 semi-private rooms.  The new unit will have 20 private rooms and four semi-private rooms, greatly expanding the unit's capacity to care for patients.  Work on the unit is expected to be completed in time for the admission of its first patients by the end of 2005.

"We're very happy to award this contract to Pizzagalli," said Dave Keelty, vice president for Facilities and Construction at Fletcher Allen.  "They are an outstanding local contractor, and we've very much enjoyed our working relationship with them in the past.  We look forward to their contribution to the success of our inpatient psychiatry project."

Pizzagalli's work on the project will include three aspects: the construction of the unit itself, the interior fit-up work, and the renovation of portions of the adjacent Shepardson building, which opened in 1961.

"We are honored to be working with Fletcher Allen again on this most challenging construction project," said Peter Bernhardt, president of Pizzagalli Construction Company.  "It is especially rewarding to be involved with this meaningful project and with an important local institution in our community as Fletcher Allen Health Care."

Pizzagalli Construction Company has long worked with Fletcher Allen, including substantial work on the Renaissance Project.  Notably, Pizzagalli Construction worked on the concrete portion of the Ambulatory Care Center and the new four-story underground parking garage.

About Fletcher Allen's Renaissance Project

In addition to the inpatient psychiatry unit, Fletcher Allen's building project includes a new Ambulatory Care Center, an expanded emergency department, a new birthing center, a new surgery center with eight additional operating suites, a new central plant, and a new 1,200-space underground parking garage. The project also includes an Education Center, constructed in collaboration with the University of Vermont College of Medicine.