Brockton, MA According to Auburn Construction, a construction management firm based on the South Shore of Massachusetts, with over 50 years of experience, reconstruction at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital has reached its final phases, after a 10-alarm electrical fire in February 2023 wiped out mission-critical systems hospital-wide, setting off a chain of events that continues to test the resiliency and ingenuity of all involved.

Major hospital fires have become increasingly rare in the US in recent decades, and renovating a century-old hospital building poses unique challenges not found in new construction. While several outside factors continue to cloud the exact completion timeline, the construction manager acknowledged every key partner in every phase of the project is working diligently to restore the building to a safe, fully functional state. 

“The journey to rebuild Brockton Hospital has been a testament to resilience, collaboration, and efficient project management,” said David Kelliher, president of Auburn Construction, a longtime partner of Brockton Hospital and Signature Healthcare. “Starting with Signature Healthcare, along with Peregrine Group, Smith Group, J&M Brown Company and Anania Plumbing & Heating to name a few, every one of these dedicated teams has worked tirelessly together with the single goal of reopening this important resource to the Brockton community.”

Immediately following the fire, Auburn Construction worked with Signature Healthcare to convert existing spaces at satellite locations into two urgent care centers to mitigate the loss to the community. Both spaces were completely renovated within three weeks from concept to completion. 

The project ballooned well beyond the initial fire damage, as reconstruction would require extensive electrical code upgrades throughout the 100-year-old hospital. Virtually every area of the hospital was affected and required renovations of varied degrees.

Auburn constructed a 2,700 s/f addition to house the new electrical switchgear for the facility, along with 23 new electric closets throughout the hospital required to separate the normal and emergency panels. Crews had to open every corridor ceiling to feed the new panels from the switch gear. 

The kitchen and cafeteria suffered damage from the fire and were rebuilt. Space requirements for the new electrical closets forced the hospital to relocate numerous critical services, including the hospital pharmacy, case management and hazardous materials room. More than 125 HVAC units needed to be replaced and re-piped, the medical gas systems and the domestic hot water systems throughout required replacement. 

Parallel to fire reconstruction efforts and without impacting the completion dates for fire restoration, Signature Healthcare and Auburn Construction worked together to renovate the emergency department, behavioral health triage area, kitchen, cafeteria, main lobby, ambulatory surgery unit and other facilities to better serve the community. 

It’s not exaggerating to say Auburn’s team has touched nearly every inch of the 341,000 s/f hospital,” said Kelliher. “The results echo what Robert Haffey, CEO and President of Signature Healthcare said recently that Brockton Hospital will soon be back stronger, better, and healthier!”