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DESIGNER'S CHALLENGE
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By Jane Beckerdite
HRA engineering keeps St. Louis Children’s Hospital operational throughout the expansion process.
Hospital expansion is a challenging prospect because construction is performed while the facility remains operational around-the-clock. Add to the mix that hospitals are sophisticated environments with distinctive needs—it’s clear that advanced engineering skills are paramount to any medical expansion project.
Regarding the east expansion at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, engineering firm Henneman, Raufeisen and Associates Inc., is designing Children’s neonatal intensive care unit, surgery suite, same-day surgery unit, central processing department (the area where medical instruments are sterilized and processed) its therapy services, the seventh and twelfth floor in-patient units and its ambulatory care services.
 Tom Bice, senior vice president and
principal-in-charge, Henneman Raufeisen
and Associates Inc.–St. Louis. |
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“The engineering on this project was incredibly detailed and encompassed everything from mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems to information technology systems, fire protection, security, electronics and specialty lighting,” says Brandy Scheer, marketing director with HRA in St. Louis.
Total project cost is $85 million with a completion date of 2007 set for the two simultaneous phases of construction.
The complete job for Children’s Hospital East Expansion was mapped out in two
distinct phases coupled with an additional project referred to as the Chiller Cooling Tower Replacement.
| HRA ensures a smooth flow during construction of St. Louis Children’s Hospital East Expansion. |
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Phase One: Shell and Core Design
This phase involves the primary mechanical equipment, chillers and air-handling units for the development of the future spaces.
Phase Two: Interior Fit-Out
This phase concerns the design of all mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, information technology and security for dialysis on the second floor, therapy services on the fourth floor, the neonatal intensive care unit on the fifth floor and cardiology beds on the seventh floor. This phase also calls for an extensive remodel of floors two through 12, except for the eighth floor, which was completed as a separate project.
HRA engineers designed new systems and remodeled and updated existing systems. The firm also developed the infrastructure master plan for this development, including a complete evaluation of all existing systems and recommendations for improvements to accommodate future growth.
HRA has offices in Champaign and Chicago, Ill., Iowa City, Iowa, Madison, Wis. and, of course, St. Louis. Tom Bice is senior vice president and principal-in-charge of the St. Louis office. Bice is a registered engineer in 48 states with more than 25 years of mechanical engineering experience. And he’s taken the St. Louis office from two to 22 employees in less than two years.
As Bice describes the intricacies with starting a project, it’s clear he’s passionate about his work. Engineering, it turns out, is also an art form. It takes true creativity to coordinate new and existing systems in a way that is not only cost effective, but also completely functional during the construction phase of the expansion.
“You begin with an overall evaluation and assessment of all the existing conditions. At the same time, you research the applicable health codes for the design. Those two things together create the canvas on which you’re working,” Bice says. “It is critical to do the assessment of the systems, medical gas, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, etc., for they are the lifeline of the building.”
HRA is a 140-person multidiscipline engineering firm with more than four decades of mechanical, electrical plumbing and fire protection design experience. It offers comprehensive engineering, planning, and design services through construction administration and commissioning. HRA has delivered engineering design services for hundreds of healthcare projects.
Bice says one of the most important means to ensure a smooth flow during construction projects, especially for technical ones like the Children’s Hospital expansion, is that the engineers be brought in early.
The earlier, the better. As in yesterday.
“One of the biggest issues we face is
that most projects are additions or remodels that require an in-depth investigation of the systems. The ability for a hospital to continue serving its patients is critical. But by being brought in early, we were really able to define the design impact so the architect doesn’t have to come back in to accommodate engineering later on. It really creates a situation that allows the owner to help prevent design overruns. This was an ambitious program on
Children’s part. The design we put together two years ago is being implemented now
with minimal changes, and we are very proud of that.”
But where do you build where space is
limited? “We built over an existing garage
so that by itself—where the expansion was
to be located—was a challenge for the
whole design team.”
But engineers like a good challenge.
“The infrastructure impact was critical
to the project success—how we tied the
new systems into existing infrastructure;
how we provided for remodel after the
expansion is completed. Then we came back into the existing building and did an
extensive remodel on the design,” he says. “But again, the biggest challenge is
keeping Children’s Hospital in business throughout the project, while at the same
time giving them a whole new capability to serve patients with all new facilities. The
program is really extensive.”
It is said that whenever someone asks when construction will be complete at BJC, the answer is “never.” That’s because construction and renovation must keep up with
St. Louis’ ever-emerging medical technology.
“There’s always construction taking place. Continual upgrade of medical technology needs building upgrade to support it. The technical buildings are where we tend to stand out from the crowd. We really attack a project.
We make a concerted effort to understand
the entire hospital building environment,” Bice says.
To that end, engineering a building has a commonality with medicine. Engineers have full knowledge of the inner workings of a structure. They make the water pump, the air flow, the electrical impulses connect.
“The things we’re designing are like
making a body work. You really have to understand all of the systems of the building—
boilers and pipelines. These are what gives
a building its lifeline, its blood. Just like a
doctor would think of his patient’s overall well being while he is operating, we realize the building is ‘alive’ while we are working on it, so we have a real sensitivity to the impact of
hospital functions.” |
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