There are a lot of operational differences when it comes to medical offices buildings.  They aren’t quite the same as normal office buildings.  While design for a typical office building involves less attention to the depths and lengths of the entire space, while in medical office design, room depths should not be too great or space is wasted.  In addition, the length of the entire user area should be dependent on proximity to the examination rooms.  Following both of these rules negates both unwanted leasing area and inefficiency of the space for the medical staff as well as the patients.

Among other design considerations are stiffer and stronger floors to accommodate storage loads as well as sensitive equipment that require less floor disturbances.  Temperature must be regulated appropriately for both patients as well as sensitive equipment, thus dividing environment settings.  There should be an adequate amount of airflow for odors as wells as air quality in all rooms.


Considerations in parking are necessary in that there is considerable amount of traffic in comparison to normal office buildings.  Patients arriving and leaving the building have a high rate of turn over.  Elevators must be sized adequately for gurneys.  The number of toilet rooms should be examined.  Specimen storage as well as larger mail reception is required.  Similar to all tenant improvements, however, the cost of a T.I. will cost more than the shell itself.


Materials that take abuse from foot traffic and user volume as well as hardware will need to be replaced at a greater rate.  Suite design is important to patient privacy and requires special construction depending on use as well as adequate partitioning and appropriate plumbing and electrical design.

Buildings that see more traffic, use up more electricity and medical facilities may open for longer hours as well.  More water will be used. Cleanliness and waste disposal are important.  Emergency power must be installed and lighting must be adequate for, both patients and physicians.

In the past, many large scale hospitals owned the medical facilities that branched out, but today’s medical offices are separate and the current trend involves leasing out from a developer who has the experience of managing and constructing such a building.  Marketing of such medical buildings is much easier however than the typical office building and in today’s market there is a demand for these types of facilities.