Durham, N.C. — Duke University Health System wants to expand and update Duke University Hospital by nearly $600 million.

The system has filed a “certificate of need” with state officials who must approve the plan. If granted permission to proceed, Duke hopes to begin construction next fall.

The plan calls for an expansion of 548,420 square feet. New facilities would include 16 operating suites.

Duke also wants to modernize 160 of its authorized 924 beds, turning those into four 24-bet intensive care units and two 32-bed units for intermediate, or step-down, care.

"Development of this expansion of Duke University Hospital is essential to our ongoing ability to meet the growing demand for patient care services and to conduct cutting-edge research and training in an era of population growth and accelerating innovation," said Victor Dzau, MD, chancellor for health affairs and chairman and chief executive officer of the health system, in a statement. "This expansion will allow us to recruit the faculty who will be necessary in coming years to sustain and grow our academic and patient care programs."

According to Duke, its operating room suites are “already used in excess of the state’s definition of capacity levels.”

The system also said its intensive care and step-down facilities are “running at capacity.”

The addition would be built between the hospital’s main building and clinics located nearby to the south. A research building and an unused helipad cover the ground where the new facilities would be built.