A Columbus construction company has been awarded the contract to build the St. Mary’s Medical Campus in Ironton.

R.W. Setterlin’s bid of approximately $9.3 million for the construction and site work of the building has been accepted, said Ralph Kline, assistant director of the Ironton-Lawrence County Community Action Organization.

Phase one — electrical work — of the $18 million project has begun and earth-moving construction is set to begin in the spring.

Kline said the company has done construction projects such as schools in this area in the past.

“I believe they worked on (Southern Ohio Medical Center) in Portsmouth,” Kline said. “They’re familiar with the area and they seem to be qualified.”

When completed, the facility will be a two-story, 24-hour emergency room at the intersection of U.S. 52 and State Route 141. There will also be physician offices as well as laboratory and imaging services in the 46,000 square foot building.

St. Mary’s hopes to open portable physicians’ offices, which are already in place at the construction site, by Jan. 15, but that will depend on how quickly electrical work can be completed, Kline said.

The offices will be in place until the medical campus is opened.

The hospital plans to open the facility in January 2012.