National Intrepid Center of Excellence tops out at Walter Reed

SmithGroup, a leading architecture and engineering firm and The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (IFHF), a non-profit organization supporting the men and women of the United States Armed Forces and their families, celebrated the overall structural completion of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), an advanced facility dedicated to research, diagnosis and treatment of military personnel and veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI).

The $65 million NICoE project broke ground at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland in June, 2008 and will be completed in spring, 2010. Turner Construction Company is the general contractor. Upon completion, the IFHF will transfer ownership of the NICoE to the Department of Defense for staffing and ongoing operation.

SmithGroup and IFHF designed the 72,000-square-foot, two-story facility to provide the most advanced services in diagnostic imaging, clinical care and rehabilitation, staff and patient education, and clinical research in the treatment of TBI. The world-class Center will also support continued innovation and technological advances in military medicine as well as serve as a prototype for similar military and civilian TBI centers worldwide.

SmithGroup (www.smithgroup.com) ranks as the nation's 7th largest architecture and engineering firm (Building Design & Construction, July 2009) and employs 800. The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (www.fallenheroesfund.org) is a leader in supporting the men and women of the Armed Forces and their families. In 2007, SmithGroup and IFHF created the award-winning Center for the Intrepid rehabilitation center in San Antonio, Texas funded entirely by private donations by over 600,000 Americans.