A four-story, $30 million vertical tower expansion at the Cullman Regional Medical Center in the north-central Alabama city began construction in early March following a groundbreaking.

The new towers are part of an overall expansion project being built by Birmingham, Ala.-based Doster Construction Company that will significantly increase the hospital's bed capacity from 145 to 175 and double the size of the hospital's critical care unit.

TRO Jung Brannen Architects in Birmingham was contracted to design the hospital's new towers and emergency department (ED).

Cullman Regional noted on its website that the workhorse piece of equipment used in the tower expansion is a 130-ft.-tall, ballasted tower crane used to place the steel foundation and framing to extend the hospital's west bed tower by 84 ft., which will enable the medical center to add 13 new critical care and 12 medical/surgical patient rooms.

Five additional beds created during previously completed renovations to Cullman Regional's existing spaces also are part of the facility's enlargement, bringing the total to 30 new beds.

"It's imperative that north Alabama healthcare systems like Cullman Regional invest in facilities, technology and talent to meet the future healthcare needs of our rapidly growing region," said Cullman Regional CEO James Clements. "We're thankful for a visionary Healthcare Authority Board that believes in our hospital, and for our partners in progress, Doster and TRO."

As part of the multi-million-dollar hospital expansion, Doster will complete construction on the hospital's ED this summer. The project will feature a larger, more modern patient lobby and increase the critical-care space at Cullman Regional capacity by 80 percent, according to the hospital.

"We're excited to partner with Cullman Regional Medical Center and TRO again to expand their healthcare campus," said Doster Operations Manager Brad Mitchell. "The new patient tower will provide Cullman, and surrounding communities, more opportunity in seeking immediate healthcare attention, while enhancing the capabilities to which [the hospital] can perform daily."

Doster Construction Company has completed more than 1,500 healthcare projects across the country and is consistently ranked by Modern Healthcare as one of the nation's top healthcare contractors.

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