Special Delivery

St. Joseph's Expands with Women's Pavilion

By Richard Kim Folsom

Carondelet St. Joseph's Hospital opened in 1961 on the growing east side of Tucson. This growth continues today, so Carondelet has embarked on a four-phase expansion of the hospital. Phase one adds a women's health pavilion, parking garage, medical office building and updates to the mechanical plant.

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Carondelet Health Network's $40 million phase one expansion of St. Joseph's Hospital on its 55-acre facility in Tucson is a project of partnerships.

"Carondelet was so supportive of the partnership concept on the project," says Fred Briscoe, the project manager for Phoenix-based Sundt Construction, the general contractor on the project in a joint venture partnership with Tucson-based BFL Construction. "Carondelet promoted input from all members of the construction team, their staff and the surrounding community to achieve the best design."

The partnership continued with the architectural team, comprised of Nashville, Tenn.-based Gresham Smith & Partners and Tucson-based Swain Associates. "Because of the strict codes on healthcare design and construction, cooperation and coordination did not stop with the construction team," says Mark Bollard, AIA of Swain Associates. "The city of Tucson was very flexible in permitting the hospital construction. The city allowed phased permitting which covered basic excavation and prep work without having to get a permit for the whole construction project."

M. Channing McLeod, AIA, the project architect for Gresham Smith says that the design's main objective was to create a pleasant and safe environment.

"The patient rooms, operating and delivery rooms were all designed repetitively so every feature in every room was exactly in the same place," McLeod says. "This 'patient safe design' is a little more costly up-front but reduces staff mistakes once the facility is in use, saving much more financially for Carondelet."

The site currently houses the existing hospital, a medical office building and parking, with the expansion planned for four separate phases. Phase one includes a Women's Medical Pavilion that will add approximately 164,000 sq ft and will be connected on two floors to the existing hospital. The five-story pavilion, scheduled for completion in July, will include labor delivery rooms, a natal intensive care unit, pre-natal special care and isolation rooms. The fifth floor will be devoted to neuroscience.

The other three phases will be started in the next couple of years, according to the project master plan. A cost for the overall expansion has not been determined, and contracts for the other phases have not yet been awarded, according to Bollard. However, Swain is also designing a medical office building on the site under a separate contract.

The construction team worked diligently to plan ahead. "The team, with the owner's blessing, bought materials ahead of time to avoid cost increases in material during a volatile construction products market," says Briscoe. For example, Michael Crane of Sturgeon Electric in Denver, which has an office in Tucson, worked with Stark Electric of Tucson and purchased most of the electric wire ahead of time. "The total value of the wire on this project was $560,000 when purchased in November, but value has increased about 40% since it was purchased," says Crane.

"Sundt also pre-purchased 5000 cu yds of concrete that was used for the Pavilion foundation and elevator shaft for the same reason," says Briscoe.

Phoenix-based Able Steel pre-purchased 960 tons of steel for the building's structural steel frame early in the project to take advantage of lower materials pricing, according to the steel contractor's project manager, Mike Adamowicz. "One problem the contractors and subs had to deal with because of pre-purchasing was onsite storage. The steel had to be unloaded from trucks and immediately erected, leaving no room for error."

Meanwhile, Robert Lee of R. E. Lee Mechanical Contracting Inc. of Tucson worked to make sure that the construction went ahead as scheduled without interruption to any existing hospital services, especially when it was determined that the sewer and ventilation systems needed to be modified.

"The work had to be completed within a two week period so that the adjacent hospital would not be impacted," says Lee. "Special carbon filters were added to the outside air intakes with a less expensive removable pre-filter so that patients would not be irritated by odors from the construction." The sewer system was re-routed and three ejection basins with pumps were added.

Time was also essential in the power plant upgrade, according to Lee. Two of the existing generators had to be replaced with larger units. The work had to be done in the wintertime during the middle of the night when power usage was at the lowest level in the hospital. This doubled the emergency generation capacity and increased normal power by about one third.

Tucson's wet monsoon season last year became an issue at the site when rain water filled a new elevator shaft, according to Briscoe. Since environmental regulations prevented the water from being removed from the site, crews ended up moving the water around on the site as they worked on the project.

Key Players
Owner: Carondelet Health Network
Architect: Gresham Smith & Partners; Swain Associates
General Contractor: Sundt/BFL Construction
Engineer: Grenier Engineering
Electrical: Sturgeon Electric; Stark Electric
Mechanical: R E Lee Mechanical Contracting Inc.
Steel: Able Steel

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