Infrastructure Plans: Investments That Pay (June 2000)
The utility systems hidden above ceilings, in walls, and in utility closets provide the heating, ventilating, air conditioning, lighting, electric power, medical gases, and fire protection necessary to deliver effective patient care in a health care facility. Together, these systems represent the facility infrastructure.
Many health care facilities with buildings built in the 50s and 60s are in good physical condition, with infrastructure systems that have been replaced and upgraded several times in the life of the building. Clients will sometimes refer to the most recent construction as the ¿new building¿ or ¿new wing.¿ These ¿new buildings¿ are often 15 to 20 years old. Well-constructed buildings can remain viable well beyond the expected life of the infrastructure systems. Major equipment and systems are often kept operational and serviceable beyond the expected useful life due in large part to good maintenance, repairs where necessary, and the pressure to just keep it running.