Construction of a new 17-story patient tower at Northside Hospital Gwinnett in Lawrenceville, Ga., will progress as one project instead of built in phases as had been previously planned, according to the website constructionequipmentguide.com.

Northside‘s tower will add 146 more patient beds, bringing the hospital’s total bed count to 696.

One-third of the beds in the new tower will be used for critical care and will replace the hospital’s original intensive care unit built in the 1980s.