After several years of moving around the Burton Hills office complex in Nashville's Green Hills community, it became clear that AMSURG needed a building of its own to continue to grow. That need produced a custom designed space right around the corner. The new location provides capacity for increased customer service, marketing and leadership functions to support the company's physician and surgery center partners.
There were big plans for the new headquarters from its inception. The moment AMSURG began working on the space the goal was to be as ecologically responsible as possible. This desire led to AMSURG’s new location being recognized as the largest gold-certified LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building in the state of Tennessee.
“We knew right from the beginning that we wanted to go about the design responsibly. Pursuing LEED certification was just the logical extension of that desire,” asserted Ashely Coleman, associate vice president of construction.
LEED certification is an extensive system of points and regulations that ensure a building is paying attention to things like environmental sustainability and energy efficiency. As simple as this sounds, there are always obstacles, both expected and surprising, that complicate the process.
One such complication came to light when the foundation of the building was being excavated. There was an unexpected natural spring. Construction turned this surprise into an advantage by utilizing the spring for the building's HVAC cooling tower.
LEED certification also emphasizes local sourcing. For that reason all materials in the Burton Hills location come from within a 500-mile radius, most from much closer. However, it is with the decorations and conference room naming that AMSURG really brought in some hometown flair. Photographs and paintings throughout the building depict areas all across Tennessee and each conference room is clustered into groups of Nashville favorites such as Cheekwood, Loveless Cafe, Ryman Auditorium and Vandyland.
By creating an exceptionally ecologically responsible building, AMSURG not only built an optimal workspace for its employees to continue to serve its surgery center partners, but also an optimal structure for the city of Nashville and Tennessee. In the end, everyone wins.