On March 20, Meritus Health Center in Hagerstown, Md., submitted an emergency certificate of need to the state of Maryland’s Healthcare Commission, which one day later approved the hospital’s plan for its permanent 2 South Regional Infection Containment Wing to support COVID-19 infected patients.
Two days after that approval, Gilbane Building Company and Matthei & Colin Associates started assembling a building team to design and build this new facility. (A decade earlier, this same team built the 510,000-sf, 267-bed Meritus Medical Center in what at that time was a record 30 months.)
“Eight days after our initial call, our team was moving soil and digging foundations,” says Gary Orton, vice president and director of healthcare for Gilbane’s Mid-Atlantic division. “A project like this would typically take more than a year to conceptualize, design and build, but we didn’t have that kind of time.”
The steel framing was erected in six weeks and the building was airtight in two months. Streamlining was evident in the reduction of the construction punch list to seven open items, from 73.
The 12,560-sf addition was completed on July 31; the time between the start of designing this wing and its receipt of a temporary certificate of occupancy was only 120 days. The addition was accepting patients by early August.
Also see: A time-lapse video of the hospital wing’s construction
A STREAMLINED PROCESS
As this project proceeded, the first critical steps, according to Matthei & Colin, were defined as: identifying long lead materials/systems and get them ordered as the building was being designed; engaging County and State officials to develop a plan to streamline the permit processes, while ensuring quality and safety of the final product; and developing a schedule with major milestones identified along the critical path.
“We reinvented decision making and certification processes to recognize the realities of working remotely and serving the schedule to bring the facility online as quickly as possible for the community,” says William Heun, lead architect for the project and partner with Matthei & Colin Associates.
According to Gilbane, the fast-track schedule was abetted by bringing the Washington County (Md.) permit and inspections department into daily meetings with the Building Team, to identify areas of improvement and to minimize delays in the permitting and life safety processes.
Gilbane adds that the design-to-permit time for the addition, which normally would take six to nine months for a building this size, was whittled down to less than six weeks.
The team exercised Lean practices to coordinate and streamline processes, expedite permitting, and procurement, design, and construction.
Exterior metal stud wall framing was fabricated on the ground and lifted into place when the structural steel frame was erected. Millwork and casework were assembled in the largest and most complete units possible. Headwalls were prefabricated with all power, gases, outlets and light controls in place, reducing installation time and providing a single point of connection above the ceiling. Door hardware was installed on doors off site, to minimize carpenters’ time in the project area.
Among the project's time-saving measures was prefabricating the patient room headwalls. Image: Gilbane, courtesy of Meritus Health.
ADDITION SUITED TO TREAT ALL INFECTIOUS DISEASES
CM Cost Plus Fee was the delivery method deployed for this $12.5 million addition, which is the first of its kind in the region, with 20 ventilator-capable negative pressure isolation rooms designed and built to contain any type of infectious disease. A sophisticated nurse call system enhances connectivity between patients and the nursing staff. Eight of the wing’s rooms have corridor windows with integrated blinds.
The Building Team included Frederick, Seibert & Associates (CE, land surveying, and landscape architecture), Leach Wallace Associates (MEP engineer), and GRAEF-USA (SE). Other suppliers and subcontractors listed are Heffron, Cindell Construction, Davenport Commercial, Ellsworth Electric, Emmitsburg Glass, Johnson Controls, Kalkreuth Roofing and Sheet Metal, KBK Builders, Kinsley Manufacturing, Modular Services, PAINTech, Ruppert Landscape, Robert W. Sheckles, Siemens, Swisslog Healthcare Solutions, Triad Engineering, and Virginia Sprinkler.
Related Stories
| Feb 11, 2011
Two projects seek to reinvigorate Los Angeles County medical center
HMC Architects designed two new buildings for the Los Angeles County Martin Luther King, Jr., Medical Center as part of a $360 million plan to reinvigorate the campus. The buildings include a 120-bed hospital, which involves renovation of an existing tower and several support buildings, and the construction of a new multi-service ambulatory care center. The new facilities will have large expanses of glass at all waiting and public areas for unobstructed views of downtown Los Angeles. A curved glass entrance canopy will unite the two buildings. When both projects are completed—the hospital in 2012 and the ambulatory care center in 2013—the campus will have added more than 460,000 sf of space. The hospital will seek LEED certification, while the ambulatory care center is targeting LEED Silver.
| Feb 9, 2011
Hospital Construction in the Age of Obamacare
The recession has hurt even the usually vibrant healthcare segment. Nearly three out of four hospital systems have put the brakes on capital projects. We asked five capital expenditure insiders for their advice on how Building Teams can still succeed in this highly competitive sector.
| Jan 31, 2011
Cuningham Group Architecture launches Healthcare studio with Lee Brennan
International design firm Cuningham Group Architecture, P.A. (Cuningham Group) has announced the arrival of Lee Brennan, AIA, as Principal and Leader of its new Healthcare studio. Brennan comes to Cuningham Group with over 30 years of professional experience, 22 of those years in healthcare, encompassing all aspects of project delivery, from strategic planning and programming through design and construction. The firm’s new Healthcare studio will enhance Cuningham Group’s expertise in leisure and entertainment, education, mixed-use/housing and workplace environments.
| Jan 31, 2011
HDR Architecture Releases Evidence-based Design Videos
As a follow-up to its book Evidence-based Design for Healthcare Facilities, HDR Architecture, Inc. has released three video case studies that highlight evidence-based design principles in action.
| Jan 31, 2011
CISCA releases White Paper on Acoustics in Healthcare Environments
The Ceilings & Interior Systems Construction Association (CISCA) has released an extensive white paper “Acoustics in Healthcare Environments” for architects, interior designers, and other design professionals who work to improve healthcare settings for all users. This white paper serves as a comprehensive introduction to the acoustical issues commonly confronted on healthcare projects and howbest to address those.
| Jan 27, 2011
Perkins Eastman's report on senior housing signals a changing market
Top international design and architecture firm Perkins Eastman is pleased to announce that the Perkins Eastman Research Collaborative recently completed the “Design for Aging Review 10 Insights and Innovations: The State of Senior Housing” study for the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The results of the comprehensive study reflect the changing demands and emerging concepts that are re-shaping today’s senior living industry.
| Jan 21, 2011
Harlem facility combines social services with retail, office space
Harlem is one of the first neighborhoods in New York City to combine retail with assisted living. The six-story, 50,000-sf building provides assisted living for residents with disabilities and a nonprofit group offering services to minority groups, plus retail and office space.
| Jan 21, 2011
Research center built for interdisciplinary cooperation
The Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital, in Houston, the first basic research institute for childhood neurological diseases, is a 13-story twisting tower in the center of the hospital campus.
| Jan 19, 2011
Biomedical research center in Texas to foster scientific collaboration
The new Health and Biomedical Sciences Center at the University of Houston will facilitate interaction between scientists in a 167,000-sf, six-story research facility. The center will bring together researchers from many of the school’s departments to collaborate on interdisciplinary projects. The facility also will feature an ambulatory surgery center for the College of Optometry, the first of its kind for an optometry school. Boston-based firms Shepley Bulfinch and Bailey Architects designed the project.
| Jan 19, 2011
New Fort Hood hospital will replace aging medical center
The Army Corps of Engineers selected London-based Balfour Beatty and St. Louis-based McCarthy to provide design-build services for the Fort Hood Replacement Hospital in Texas, a $503 million, 944,000-sf complex partially funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The firm plans to use BIM for the project, which will include outpatient clinics, an ambulance garage, a central utility plant, and three parking structures. Texas firms HKS Architects and Wingler & Sharp will participate as design partners. The project seeks LEED Gold.
