Hawley Building State-Of-The-Art Diagnostic Imaging Center In Newtown

Newtown will soon get one of the most sophisticated, advanced diagnostic imaging centers in the state when Newtown Diagnostic Imaging, LLC (NDI) opens its doors in the near future. Now under construction by Hawley Construction Corporation of Danbury, the new center will be located at 153 South Main Street in the SCB Office Park.

The NDI center will be staffed by Drs Arnold Newman, Adam Welber, and other members of Danbury Radiology Associates. Construction is already well underway and it is anticipated that the new imaging center will be open to the public next month.

According to Dr Newman, spokesman for the attending physicians, the new imaging center will contain, within its 7,125 square feet of space, a complete range of diagnostic testing equipment that will make it a one-stop facility for all of a patient’s testing needs.

Gary W. Hawley, president of Hawley Construction, explained that the center is being built as a U-shaped footprint, with a large reception area, dressing rooms, toilets, and offices located in the center portion of the U and surrounded by special testing areas/equipment. Each of these special testing areas contain the primary equipment room and a control room. NDI will offer diagnostic radiology services, MRI, CAT scans, and ultrasound tests.

A fully-equipped reading and analysis room will serve all testing venues. In addition to these facilities, the NDI center will also contain a staff lounge, central file room, and consultation, administrative and technician’s offices. Constructing a center with this kind of sophisticated, high-powered equipment demands not only an extraordinary electric power capability, but careful attention to shielding protection as well, explained Mr Hawley.

“The radiology and CAT scan testing rooms have what has almost become routine — lead liners in all walls to protect against the escape of radiation,” said Mr Hawley, “but the MRI environment is something else again.”

All of the walls and ceiling of the MRI room must be built using an interlocking system of copper panels that contain the generation of magnetic forces within this space, Mr Hawley said. Even special, MRI-compatible lighting fixtures must be used within this space.

The real challenge, Mr Hawley said, was building within these exacting parameters and quality levels in an existing building that is up and running with other tenants to consider.

Hawley Construction Corporation is the building arm of The Hawley Companies, the Danbury-based real estate, development, and construction organization that today has more than one million square feet of rentable space under the company’s real estate management, a significant portion of which is medical space.

Hawley Construction has completed projects for such clients as Danbury Hospital, Western Connecticut State University, Webster Bank, and the Midwestern Connecticut Council on Alcoholism.

Medically, the firm has also worked for Danbury Internal Medicine Associates, Advanced Derm Care, PC, Corporate Health Care, Ability Beyond Disability Rehabilitation Institute, Pediatric Associates of Western Connecticut, and many other private health services providers with facilities in Germantown Road office buildings.

Architect for the new NDI center is the Mitchell Architectural Group, PC of Newtown.