A chill in the air didn’t dampen the enthusiasm Tuesday afternoon as Riverside Walter Reed Hospital held a groundbreaking ceremony on the hospital’s Gloucester campus to mark the start of construction on a 12,000-square-foot modern Intensive Care Unit.

Hospital administrator Megan Kleckner said this represents the largest expansion of hospital services since the opening of its Cancer Center in 2004. Also, she said the addition, which is expected to open in late 2012, is significant as it illustrates how the hospital and its staff have always strived to provide the most modern health care since the facility opened its doors in September 1977.

The new ICU addition will cost approximately $5 million, Kleckner said, which will include expanded space and new equipment. Whiting-Turner Contracting Company of Norfolk is general contractor for the project.

Tuesday’s ceremony, attended by more than 100 people, also included the groundbreaking for the J. Doswell Dutton F...