Two Construction Trends to Keep an Eye on

By Andrew Weeks

Acouple of trends in construction are affecting some industries, including medical and hospitality: prefabrication manufacturing and retrofitting buildings.

Though both have been around for a while, construction professionals in the region said they are seeing them trend upward.

Construction Engineers recently finished a project for Essentia Health that involved converting an old retail building into a state-ofthe-art ambulatory care clinic.

The 23,000-square-foot building in Park Rapids, Minn., now includes 18 exam rooms, space for physical and occupational therapy, a speech therapy department, and a cutting-edge radiology department, among a number of other features.

Essentia moved into the space when Construction Engineers, headquartered in Grand Forks, N.D., was just finishing some final touches with the building in early September.

Mike Dunn, the construction company’s business development manager, said this is not the first time the company has refitted a building for a new occupant. Dunn said vacant retail stores are prime real estate to convert to health clinics, in part because of the open spaces of vacant buildings.

THE INTERIOR OF THE ESSENTIA HEALTH CLINIC IN PARK RAPIDS, MINN., WHICH CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERS RECENTLY COMPLETED. MIKE DUNN, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER FOR THE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY IN GRAND FORKS, N.D., SAID HE’S STARTING TO SEE MORE HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS GO THE ROUTE OF REPURPOSING OLD BUILDINGS INSTEAD OF CONSTRUCTING NEW ONES.

IMAGE: COURTESY OF CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERS

“We did a job very similar for Altru in Grand Forks where we repurposed a Scheels store, there on Columbia Road, into its PT and Performance Center,” he said. “These health care providers want to utilize these locations and save a little bit of money by remodeling into those buildings.” continued on page 18