Massive expansion at Strong now underway, 301 tons of waste recycled

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – If you’ve been anywhere near the area lately, you know the massive expansion at Strong Hospital is now well underway.

About half of the demolition is done and those in charge of the project are trying to make sure it’s done responsibly. The expansion at Strong Hospital will add more than 200 exam and treatment rooms and a new psychiatric emergency center.  

There will be a new nine-story inpatient bed tower, in addition to an upgraded emergency department that will offer more than 100 private rooms. All of this, Strong promises will help reduce wait times and increase the level of care it’s able to provide.  

The hope is the expansion will be ready for all of our use by 2027. But, before anything new goes up, some of the old buildings have to come down.  

Strong is about half-way through the demolition and Wednesday we learned about a partnership between the hospital and Turner Pike Construction that’s allowing most of the demo waste to be diverted away from local landfills and recycled instead.

Out of 340 tons of waste so far, 301 tons of it has been recycled.

“We’re currently recycling approximately 88% of the materials in this demo site,” says project coordinator, Robert Maloney. “So, we’re capturing all the embodied energy in these materials and either sending them to metal scrappers or crushing plants to use for base for construction sites and what have you.” 

The cost of this project is more than $500 million. It’s the largest expansion that has ever happened at the facility. Leaders there say they are already actively recruiting more health care workers to ensure that once it’s built, there are enough doctors, nurses and technicians to fill it. 

For the last few years now News10NBC has followed up on major health care staffing shortages.