US-based healthcare consulting firm Hammes Healthcare has inaugurated the new Louis and Phyllis Friedman Building at GBMC HealthCare in Towson, Maryland.

The facility began serving patients last month and has added 60 patient rooms to GBMC's current hospital.

As a project manager, Hammes provided operational readiness services for the new 17,000ft² installation.

The expansion included a new main entry, a three-storey atrium, retail pharmacy, café, wellness and conference centre and two acute care medical/telemetry units.

GBMC is a hospital with 57 licensed beds that provides acute and sub-acute care.

It manages more than 23,000 admissions and receives more than 52,000 emergency room visits a year.

GBMC planning, construction and design senior director Russ Sadler said: “I can say with certainty The Promise Project would not have finished on time and on budget without the skillful leadership of Hammes.

“Under their leadership, the project was completed on time, and on budget, something that was, and is, unheard of in today's economic climate.”

The Louis and Phyllis Friedman Building is one of two major capital projects being managed by Hammes as part of GBMC's Promise Project.

The other project is the Sandra R Berman Pavilion, a 70,000ft² cancer centre that is due to open in early 2025.

In June 2019, Hammes began working with GBMC to create the budget for the Promise Project programme and guide the Certificate of Need process with the State of Maryland.

Hammes Healthcare president Nancy Connolly said: “It has been a pleasure to work alongside GBMC and our project partners over the past four years on The Promise Project.

“We are so proud to see the new GBMC Louis and Phyllis Friedman Building open to patients and look forward to our continued partnership with GBMC as we work to complete the new Sandra R Berman Pavilion.”