New emergency entrance

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One recently completed project, the alteration for Emergency Suite Baylor Medical Center at Trophy Club, falls into this category.  The owner, United Surgical Partners International, made the final selection of McCaslin-Hill Construction Inc. as the general contractor.  The $950,000 project was completed in 159 days while staying fully operational.

Done in two phases, 9,000sf of interior space was repurposed to accommodate an emergency suite, upgrading this facility’s ability to provide emergency care services.  In addition, two exterior canopies totaling 2,400sf were also constructed, providing covered entry and discharge areas for the facility.

Phase I called for converting 4,000sf of space on the second floor.  This space was to accommodate facilities moving from the first floor to make room for the new emergency room suite.  Demolition areas included reception, waiting, offices, workrooms, file rooms, locker rooms and restroom.  In the newly cleared spaces, business offices, dining areas and serving lines were built.

The transition from Phase I to Phase II was tightly coordinated.  The entire move of the affected business offices and dining facilities on the first floor to their newly constructed home on the second floor was performed over one weekend so as not to disrupt normal work activity.  With this relocation successfully completed, the building of the new emergency suite, Phase II, began.

Phase II, which was the conversion of 5,000sf of space on floor one, included the creation of three treatment rooms, a triage area, a nurses station, clean utility room, soiled utility room, secured medicine room and areas for reception and waiting. This phase also included rework of the admissions area and the addition of both the entrance canopy and a discharge canopy on opposite sides of the building.

Maintaining a fully operational facility created challenges for McCaslin-Hill and their subcontractors. The coordination of interruptions to utilities such as medical gas lines, rerouting patient traffic to include maintaining signage for compliance and special procedures for removal of demolition through clean areas were just a few.

One of the unique challenges was the requirement to keep a data room located in the middle of the renovation area fully operational throughout the project. This included maintaining integrity of power and data lines at all times, even though construction was taking place all around the room and modifying an existing wall of the data room itself. Accomplishing this required the addition of temporary cooling and utilizing extensive dust control to protect the computer systems.

The McCaslin-Hill team was also presented with some challenges that gave them the opportunity to provide value-engineering solutions. One example occurred when excavation for the new canopy piers revealed a large conduit of unidentified electrical and data cables. Rather than undergo the expense and delays of rerouting these cables, they worked with a structural engineer to design a saddle that straddled the conduit and supported the pier.

These types of challenges were managed by maintaining clear and proactive communication between hospital staff, building management, subcontractors and oversight organizations.

As part of the communication strategy, inspections occurred twice daily with the operations manager, and weekly project meetings were held with all subcontractors.

Throughout the project the entire build team effectively communicated issues and expectations allowing potential problems to be identified early and proactively resolved. This kept the project on time and in budget, provided a safe work site and produced quality results.

The architect for the project was Page Southerland Page LLP with project manager Carlos Torralva.

Project management for McCaslin-Hill was David Otteson.

Team member subcontractors include: Venture Mechanical, Tutor Electrical Services, Inc., SPC Mechanical, Emergency Fire Protection, McSweeney Commercial Painting, Business Flooring Specialist, Larry Miller Roofing, RTD Custom Millwork, Harper Clayton Construction, Inc., Matrix Interiors, Greater Metroplex Interiors, ADS Steel Services, Tri-Cities Foundations.

McCaslin-Hill Construction, Inc., based in Dallas, was founded in 1991 by Tim Hill to fulfill a life long dream of owning his own company.  The eight-employee company performs a wide range of commercial construction, renovations and interior finish-outs. The majority of the work is in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex but projects have been completed in other parts of Texas.–bd

©2011 Construction News, Ltd.