New Main Hospital, Site Park, and Underground Garage Construction Progress Update #16

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1 New Main Hospital, Site Park, and Underground Garage Construction Progress Update #16 Date: March 1, 2010 From: Gary Claar Engineering Services More and more activities on a majority of construction fronts are beginning within the new building. As iron workers progress toward completing their finish details of misc. welding and bolting the last structural pieces of the building, another group such as the wire pullers arrive to begin pulling the electrical cable thru an extensive maze of conduits on multiple floors. Installation of various mechanical piping running up and thru the building is in full swing too including hot and chilled water piping, roof storm piping, plumbing water supply lines, and fire protection sprinkler pipes. The façade of the building, made up of pre-cast concrete panels and aluminum framed glass curtain wall, continues to be lifted into place each day as well. So, the number of workers involved in the project grows so that the scheduled completion date is maintained. Roofing materials are beginning to arrive so that it can be staged appropriately up on the roof areas when the time comes next month to start drying the building in from the weather. Major electrical switch gear has been placed on the 6 th floor and many of the large air handling units which will reside on this floor will be arriving in March. Some of the last concrete pours for the 14 th floor (roof level), helipad, roof elevator lobby roof slab, and the 4 th & 5 th floor connecting bridge floors will be completed in March. Later on in April, the actual installation of the roofing on the building will begin. Also in April (no fooling), the two large tower cranes will be dismantled after all of the major lifts have been completed. Then, the excavation of the new underground visitor s garage will begin. There have already been a number of items installed for the roof such as the storm water piping and roof drain assemblies. All of this piping is strategically planned and installed within the building so that it connects properly to the piping installed below the building and attaches to the huge below ground pipes that lead to the city s sanitary and storm piping systems around our campus. The consulting engineers and the contractors use a fairly new computer program system to input all of the mechanical supply ducts, plumbing piping, significant electrical conduit, fire protection piping, and many other items into a 3D picture of the entire building so that conflicts can be averted or planned around. An example of how this program helped in planning for some intersecting items is pictured on a later page of this month s report. Many times in the design and construction of a building, a problem or conflict isn t found until it s too late. In our new building, all of the contractors and design professionals are sharing up to date information of what is planned in a specific area so that all the mechanical, electrical, fire protection, finish ceilings, beams, columns, you name it, get installed correctly. So, not only will the new building have state of the art medical equipment, we are also using state of the art construction techniques. Should you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me or Scott McClure by or phone. Your comments, questions, and interest in the project are always welcome. 1

2 Views of the front and the back of the building. The right photo shows the steel skeleton of the connecting bridge for the 4 th & 5 th floors. 2

3 No matter what the weather conditions are outside, iron workers keep up the pace of finishing all the details for stairs, etc. Some workers inside the building have their own heated lunch tent w/ micro waves, coffee pots, etc. I m not sure if they share these with the iron workers, but they should (left photo). A typical natural gas fired heater helps keep the building tolerable for the contractors during the winter months. 3

4 Spools and spools of electrical wiring are already being pulled thru a well planned installation of conduits in the building. I m not sure how they keep everything straight but they do know what they are doing. The red conduits are for our fire alarm system in the building. Miles and miles of copper piping and black iron sprinkler piping are staged on each floor so the contractors have the right material for their area they are working in. 4

5 An HVAC supply air duct is planned up and over copper water supply lines, a fire protection sprinkler main, and several other supply pipes in a corridor area. This is an example of how the HVAC duct (which can be manipulated) avoids the other piping which needs to run in a straight path. Throughout the first few floors of the building, pipes, conduits and duct hangers are being planned and installed in advance of other items which will be installed below the floor above. 5

6 An interior view of the glass and aluminum curtain wall system which gives you an idea of the view from within the building. Some of the glass is transparent and other sections will be opaque. Some of the specialty glass planned for the exterior arrives in wood crates and is then placed on the floor where it is to be installed. 6

7 Some of the elevator lobby doors and shaft walls are already being installed. (left photo). On the 6 th floor, some of the major electrical gear has been placed on concrete curbs. Much of the conduit in the building leads to the numerous electrical switch gear on the 6 th floor. Around our main construction site, other work in the area includes the installation of underground AEP power lines along Livingston Avenue. This work is currently going on in front of our L Garage (right photo). Across Parsons Avenue, the beginning site preparation work for our next Research Building has started (left photo). This was the former site of Wendy s. 7